Case Study
As a Park Ranger Assistant, 16-year old Alliyah-Mariette works in the forests and lakes in the Philippines. The area in which she works at is infested with mosquitoes and trees housing ticks. What Alliyah-Mariette doesn’t know is that this particular forest is a hot spot for Dengue, and she not knowing this resulted in a life changing experience. Her parents are on yet another business trip, this time, they are half way around the world and there is no way to contact them.
Alliyah-Mariette was used to the mosquito bites, so she decided to wear her cargo shorts and her Park Ranger Assistant t-shirt, but this time, it would be different. 3 days after she was bit by the infected mosquito Alliyah-Mariette came down with a fever and headache. She thought it was just a cold, but then later, she had muscle and joint pains and a rash that looked like measles, going from her shoulder down to her hip. That is when she decided to seek medical health. While in the hospital they ran a few tests and it turned out that she had DENV1. Alliyah-Mariette didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know how this could’ve happened, and then the doctors explained it was caused by infected mosquitoes.
The doctors gave her some aspirin and corticosteroids and sent her on her way. The doctors said that there was no cure and had a fifty percent chance of living. They said that the next time she is goes to work, to make sure that she wears clothes that cover her whole body and wear some type of bug protector. Alliyah-Mariette decided that she would wait to see how the infection turns out.
After a few weeks, the symptoms disappeared and she decided to go check if the Dengue infection left her system. The tests came back and there was no Dengue in her system. The doctors told her the same thing as before, that when she went back to work, she had to wear clothes that covered her whole body and to wear a bug deflector, like OFF!, because since she was infected with one, that doesn’t mean she has immunity to any other of the strains. There were no long lasting side effects, just soreness in her back and a small rash on her upper arm.
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