Doctors yesterday advised parents to take any children suffering from the rapidly spreading viral fever to the nearest qualified medical practitioner and to treat them with only the prescribed medicines.

Lady Ridgeway Children Hospital Director Dr. Ratnasiri Hewage told Daily Mirror the virus fever was spreading specially among children throughout the country and parents must seek hospital treatment if the child does not get better after three days of treatment by the medical practioner.

He said there had been a sharp increase in the number of patients with symptoms of fever and the wards at the LRH were filled to capacity with such patients.

Patients suffering from symptoms of headache and retro-orbital pain, nausea or vomiting, rash- diffuse or platelet count of less than150,000 mm and rising HCT of 5 to 10 per cent should be rushed to hospital.

Normal symptoms of this viral fever are the inability to tolerate oral fluid, no appetite for food or liquids, but feeling extremely thirsty, severe abdominal pain and vomiting, cold and clammy extremities, bleeding manifestations, unable to pass urine for more than six hours and behavioral change.

Even the ICUs are filled with children having fever while some of the children are being given ICU treatment at wards. Not only children but even if an adult is diagnosed with these symptoms, he or she must be rushed to the hospital without much delay.

Dr. Hewage said the situation was becoming critical with the spread of dengue as parents could be confused whether it was dengue or the viral fever and therefore, it was important for the patients to be treated at home.

“It is safer to obtain medical advice in the first instance of a patient showing symptoms of fever,” he said and added that nearly 1,500 children were seeking treatment for fever at the LRH each day. Medical advice is vital when treating fever patients as certain drugs given without medical advice could be fatal.
National Hospital Director Dr. Hector Wirasingha, said the number of patients admitted to the hospital with fever had increased sharply.

He said more than 1,000 patients get treatment at the OPD for fever and another 200 admitted daily for further treatment.

Meanwhile, Government Epidemiology Unit Director Dr. Prabha Palihawadana while admitting the spread of the fever said this could be also due to the spread of dengue.

She also advised not to treat fever patients without medical advice at home.

“Patients must be given hospital treatment if the fever continues for more than three days after localized treatment” she added. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)