‘Covidengue’ cases trigger worry in Telangana, check symptoms here

Hyderabad: Telangana is currently witnessing cases of Covidengue, which occurs when a COVID-19 patient is infected with the Dengue virus, according to doctors.

"Covidengue is a syndemic disease which is more dangerous. We have come across seven to eight cases of Covidengue cases in Telangana," said Dr Vijay Bhaskar, Helios hospital, Hyderabad. The symptoms of this syndemic disease include "distress, shortness of breathing, chills, body pains and joint pains," Dr Bhaskar said. 

"So the patients need to be admitted in ICU. We give antiviral treatment for COVID-19 and if the platelet decreases in the blood, then we have to give the supplementation of blood transfusion which is called a platelet transfusion. For this syndemic disease symptomatic treatment, as well as hospitalisation and ICU care, is a must," he added.

"Covidengue is a combination of both the diseases COVID-19 and Dengue coming at the same time and both the diseases have no specific treatment for it. The main symptoms are patches on the skin, severe headache and severe body pains. COVID-19 and dengue will have similar kinds of symptoms. Maybe there will loss of taste also," said Dr Ayesha Nazneen, Chief Medical Officer, Apollo TeleHealth, Hyderabad.

"The diseases tend to be severe after three-four days and you need to take doctors advice and medical care as soon as possible," she added.

"We have come across the Covidengue patients who are immune-compromised, people with chronic diseases or old age. Now that the COVID-19 testing has gone down a bit, maybe there are more cases that we don`t know. There were certain cases where both the tests of COVID-19 and Dengue were positive and people have recovered quite well," Dr Nazneen added. 

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