Busting Common Dengue Myths

Dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection, spreads rapidly through the bite of the Aedes mosquito, and the myths associated with dengue spread even more quickly! If you strongly believe that only daytime mosquito bites cause dengue or take dengue fever for granted due to forwarded messages in your chat box or a random meme, we would say you have been tricked. Such misleading facts could even cost one’s life, and we would not want that to happen. Here we have busted the top 4 dengue-associated myths for you. We hope once you finish reading these facts, you will spread the reality.

Myth 1:

Myth: Papaya Leaves Cure Dengue

Fact: As said earlier, dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection. We all know that to date, there are no medicines available in the market to cure viral infections permanently. Being a viral infection, dengue also does not have any allopathic medicine or natural remedy like papaya leaves that can cure the associated symptoms. Papaya leaves increasing the platelet counts in dengue patients are baseless.

Myth 2:

Myth: All Mosquitoes Spread Dengue

Fact: You do not get dengue every time you get bitten by a mosquito. Not all mosquitoes that bite you carry the virus that causes dengue. Only an infected female Aedes mosquito will cause dengue. If it is an Aedes mosquito and is not infected, you are not prone to dengue if it bites you. So do not panic over a mosquito bite, but also make sure you protect yourself from mosquitoes, whether Aedes or not.

Myth 3:

Myth 3: Low Platelet Count Always Indicates Dengue

Fact: Low platelet count is not always indicative of dengue. If you experience low platelets counts in association with fever, there are high chances that you have dengue fever, but if your platelet count is low and you have no other accompanying symptoms or fever, it might be due to some medications that you take (if any), or diseases like leptospirosis, chikungunya, HIV/AIDS, yellow fever, etc.

Myth 4:

Myth 4: Dengue Affects Only the Children and Aged

Fact: The dengue virus is unbiased and does not show favoritism. Whether male or female, young or old, energetic or weak, poor or rich, dengue can affect all equally. However, a history of previous dengue fever and living in tropical areas increases the risk of contracting dengue. In such cases, make sure you protect yourself from these deadly mosquitoes by keeping your surroundings neat and clean, preventing water stagnation, using mosquito repellants, etc.

By this time, we hope your misconceptions on dengue will have been cleared. If you were one among those who forwarded the dengue myths to your well-wishers due to lack of clarity, now with confidence, you could deliver this piece of information too.