Director of Public Health Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao urged people to avoid self medication if diagnosed with COVID or any other disease.
By now, people have become aware of the symptoms of COVID-19. And since fever is one of the common symptoms of COVID, there is a possibility of people confusing it with mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria and starting treatment for that without getting tested.
If anyone starts medication to treat COVID after having symptoms like fever, and if it turns out to be dengue or malaria, that could lead to loss of life for late diagnosis, he said.
The DPH cited an example of a 41-year-old nephrologist from Andhra Pradesh, who had similar symptoms and self-treated for COVID. By the time she was taken to hospital, she died of dengue haemorrhagic fever.
“If you have symptoms like fever, go to the nearest government health centre or consult a doctor, and get tested before starting treatment,” Dr. Srinivasa said. Medicines, blood component separation kits to collect platelets, and other facilities are available free of cost at government hospitals, he added.
Superintendent of Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases Dr. K. Shankar said that typical symptoms of dengue are severe headache, body ache, pre-orbital pain, rashes on body, severe weakness, and fever that sometimes does not subside even after taking medicines. Dengue is also called a bone-break disease as people experience excruciating pain.
Since dengue and malaria cases are on the rise, he advised people having such symptoms to get tested first.