The fever is characterized by sudden onset, high temperatures, severe headaches, joint and muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and skin rashes. It is also known as ‘break-bone fever’, due to patients describing the pain as breaking through their bones.

Prevention:

	Regularly search and dry out any area with standing water - old tires, discarded bottles, coconut husks and any containers that hold CLEAN stagnant water.
	Change water in flower vases daily. Scrub and clean the insides of vases. Wash the roots of flowers and plants thoroughly as mosquito eggs can stick to them easily.
	Wear clothes that cover you up. Avoid wearing dark colours, especially black or dark blue. Dengue mosquitos are attracted to dark colours.
	Stay indoors at dawn, dusk and early evenings. This is when the mosquitoes are most active.
	If you are a traveler, please alert your physician about any fever that occurs within three weeks after you have left an endemic area.
	Vitamin B and ‘ultrasonic’ devices are NOT effective in preventing mosquito bites.
	Use mosquito repellant - an effective repellant will contain 35% DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide). DEET in higher concentrations provides no additional protection.
	Dengue fever cannot be passed directly from one person to another, but it can spread through a mosquito that bites an infected person, and then a healthy person. Keep patients under mosquito netting until the second bout of fever is over and they no longer carry the infection.