AS dengue fever cases in TT increase, even resulting in two deaths, survivors are urging the public to take all mosquito-borne diseases seriously.
The Health Ministry has reported two dengue-related deaths and over 200 infections so far.
In addition, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) said there was a 200-fold increase in dengue cases in the region.
Mosquito-borne diseases, viruses and viral infections, it said, could have a major impact on the region's way of life and tourism industry.
Symptoms of dengue include high fever, headache, joint and muscle pains, pain behind the eyes, nausea, vomiting, among other things.
Survivors recall horror
Priya Ganness, 43, of Point Fortin, had dengue when she was 30. She told Newsday she was initially unsure what was wrong with her. She had extreme fatigue, a very high fever and "crazy pain.
"I couldn't walk, I had to sit on the floor in the shower to bathe, I had to sit down and then put the toothpaste on my toothbrush, and then sit on the floor to brush my teeth. My hair got so dry – it was like straw, my whole chest turned red, and that's when a friend came to check me and took me to the doctor."
She was prescribed paracetamol to ease the pain. But that didn't do much, she said.
"My feet, my knees, my joints – there was so much pain. Dengue was probably one of the top two most painful experiences of my life."
On the current rise, she said she has been using insect spray throughout her house, as well as things like Bug Mat because she "doesn't want to take any chances."
And to those not concerned about getting the disease, she said, "Dengue is a thing that changes your life forever. Once you experience that, it's like fasting outside the door of hell. You wonder if it's going to kill you because it really pushes your body to the limit...You feel so weak that even drinking water is hard."Even if a grown adult is not concerned about it, I cannot imagine a child having to go through dengue."
Newsday columnist Debbie Jacob, 70, of St Ann's, who got dengue when she was 45, recalled the pain being so terrible, she thought it would have been better to die than continue to experience it.
[caption id="attachment_1096100" align="alignnone" width="796"] Debbie Jacob -[/caption]
"I was really, really sick and I went to the doctor, and he said, 'Don't even bother to get a test. I know it's dengue.'"
But she added that it showed up in the results of subsequent blood tests.
"I had never felt like that before. It's a living horror. It's awful!
"I had a friend staying in the house with me at the time because my kids were about nine and ten years old and I would not have been able to take care of them. I was totally out of it. She said I was having hallucinations...You can't eat, drinking is difficult because it just feels like a whole different layer of your body has been penetrated, and you have a horrific headache that feels like your eyes are coming out of your head."
She, too, said medication did not help with the pain.
'I hope I die'
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