The incubation period of dengue fever is usually 5 – 6 days but may vary from 3 to 10 days. Dengue Fever (DF) is an acute febrile illness of 2-7 days duration (sometimes with two peaks) with two or more of the following manifestations signs and symptoms

Symptoms of Dengue Fever 

• Fever

• Headache and retro-orbital pain

• Myalgia/ Arthralgia ( body pain/ muscle and joint pain)

• Characteristic skin rash starts on the dorsum of the hands and feet and spreads to the arms, legs, and torso and it lasts for several days.

Alarming Signs of Dengue

• Minute spots on the skin suggest bleeding within the skin

• Nose and gum bleeds 

• Abdominal pain and/or passage of black tarry stool

• Refusal of food or drink

• Abnormal behavior or drowsiness

• Difficulty in breathing or cold hands and feet

• Reduced amount of urine being passed

Complications of Dengue Fever

Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF), is a potentially lethal complication resulting in severe bleeding, low levels of blood platelets, and plasma leakage or dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs. Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is a probable case of dengue and hemorrhagic tendency evidenced by one or more of the following:

• Positive tourniquet test

• Petechiae, ecchymosis or purpura

• Bleeding from mucosa (mostly epistaxis or bleeding from gums), injection sites or other sites

• Haematemesis or melena

• Thrombocytopenia (platelets 100,000/cu.mm or less)