"Several reports are showing changes in dengue fever symptoms after the COVID-19 pandemic. This is related to changes in immunological reactions that occur in the body of someone who has been infected with COVID-19," the ministry's Director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Imran Pambudi, remarked on Friday.
His side received several reports showing changes in symptoms in dengue patients after the COVID-19 pandemic, one of which came from the city of Bandung, West Java.
The local health service detected signs of dengue fever not usually recognized in patients, such as the absence of symptoms of red spots and nosebleeds, which have been serious symptoms among dengue patients.
According to Pambudi, red spots and nosebleeds after being bitten by the Aedes aegypti mosquito are classic symptoms that do not always appear in dengue patients in the current endemic era.
In dengue fever cases, red spots usually appear on the third day and last for the next two to three days. The spots will decrease on the fourth and fifth days and then disappear on the sixth day.
"Symptoms of red marks on the skin and nosebleeds are classic symptoms that occur when platelets are less than 100 thousand per microliter," he stated.
Another recent symptom that also marks dengue fever is a fever that does not subside, from earlier ranging from four to 10 days after the mosquito bite, Pambudi pointed out.
He stated that dengue diagnostic tools in Indonesia are relatively more advanced in accurately detecting dengue fever, one of which uses rapid antigen (NS1).
"We no longer wait for the classic symptom to appear, which sometimes results in delays in treatment. If a patient has a high fever accompanied by body aches, then they should immediately go to a health facility to be checked using NS1," he remarked.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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