After about 7 days, children with dengue fever will show signs of recovery, including no fever, more frequent bowel movements, improved appetite, and improved clinical indicators.
1. Does dengue fever go away on its own?
Dengue fever usually resolves on its own, like a viral infection. However, some cases develop dangerous complications, such as shock, blood clotting disorders, and bleeding in the digestive tract, urinary tract, genitals, and organ damage, including to the liver, brain, kidneys, and heart. Complications occur in 3–5% of all childhood dengue fever cases.
Parents should recognize the warning signs of severe dengue fever and seek prompt medical attention. If your child has a fever for more than two days, experiences severe abdominal pain, restlessness, nosebleeds, bleeding gums (especially while brushing teeth), vomiting blood, black stools, cold limbs, or is unusually lethargic, take them to the hospital immediately.
Usually, in uncomplicated cases, parents may notice signs of their child's recovery from dengue fever.
2. How long does it take to recover from dengue fever?
Normally, the progression of dengue fever lasts two to seven days. The most dangerous stage is usually around the fourth or fifth day of fever: The child is always tired, urinates little, is restless, has a rapid pulse, low blood pressure, and may not even be able to have their pulse or blood pressure measured (a sign of circulatory collapse).
Usually, by the end of the sixth day or the beginning of the seventh day, the child will begin to recover. During this stage, it is important not to give the child intravenous fluids. In most cases, after 11–12 days, if there are no complications, it is a sign that the dengue fever has been cured.
3. Signs of dengue fever being cured:
• The child no longer has a fever.
A high fever of 39–40°C continuously for 2–3 days is a warning sign of dengue fever, requiring immediate transfer to a hospital for a doctor's examination. The first 3 days are typically the most dangerous, characterized by continuous high fever; dangerous complications are likely to appear in the following 2–3 days. If more than a week has passed since the onset, and the child's fever has subsided, their health is improving, and they are more active, it indicates recovery from dengue fever.
• More frequent bowel movements.
Dengue fever causes severe dehydration; the amount of urine excreted becomes very little, only a small fraction of the normal amount. That is why children with dengue fever need to be supplemented with water, electrolytes, or intravenous fluids to replenish their fluid loss.
When you see that your child can pass more urine and almost reach the same amount as before the dengue fever, it is also a sign that the child is recovering from dengue fever.
• Better appetite.
A child with dengue fever, whether severe or mild, becomes very tired and has a poor appetite; the child may not eat anything, only drinking water and slurping porridge because of extreme exhaustion.
If you see that your child wants to eat, craves food, asks for food again, or eats better, it means that the child is recovering from dengue fever.
• No more new signs of rash
From the onset of fever to the appearance of a dengue rash on the body is about 2–3 days. After about 3–4 days, the hemorrhagic spots will continuously appear and become denser, making the child itchy and uncomfortable. This is one of the signs that the child's illness is still progressing.
A sign that dengue fever is about to be cured is when the child's body does not develop any new hemorrhagic spots.
• Improvement in paraclinical results.
Signs of recovery from dengue fever can also be shown through paraclinical results. Through blood tests, hematological indicators gradually return to normal; only the platelet count may still be low, but will return to normal after 2 weeks at the latest.
4. Notes when treating dengue fever in children:
When children have a high fever and fever-reducing medicine is ineffective, parents can use a warm towel to cool the child and help lower the body temperature. Use slightly warm water (suitable for bathing babies) to dampen five small towels. Apply these to both sides of the groin and armpits, then wipe the child's entire body with the remaining towel. Stop cooling when the body temperature reaches 38.5°C.
If fever-reducing medicine and cooling measures are ineffective, and the fever remains above 39°C, parents should take the child to a medical facility for examination and treatment.
Parents can recognize signs of dengue fever when they see that the child's fever is gone, their physical condition is gradually improving, they begin to feel hungry, their blood pressure is stable, and they begin to urinate more frequently. The child may have a slow heart rate and electrocardiogram changes.
Even though these signs are present, parents should still let their children rest and monitor them to avoid recurrence and worsening of the condition. The Pediatrics Department at the Vinmec International General Hospital system is equipped to receive and examine diseases that infants and young children are susceptible to: viral fever, bacterial fever, dengue fever, bronchitis, pneumonia, hand, foot, and mouth disease, etc. Modern equipment, sterile spaces, and procedures minimize the impact and risk of disease spread. Experienced doctors dedicated to pediatric patients ensure examinations are no longer a concern for parents.
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