DENGUE AND PLATELETS            

 

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Context

• Dr Vikas Bhutani, Director, Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospital answered some vital aspects about platelet count in dengue and who can donate platelets.

Dengue

• Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection, found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.
• The virus responsible for causing dengue, is called dengue virus (DENV).
• There are four DENV serotypes, meaning that it is possible to be infected four times.

 

Transmission and Symptoms

• Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquitoes within the genus Aedes.
• Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle, and joint pain, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.
• There are four types of dengue strains, and type II and IV are considered to be more severe and normally require hospitalisation.
• The aedes mosquito breeds in clean stagnant water.

 

Treatment

• There is no specific medicine to treat dengue.

 

Platelets

• Platelets are pieces of very large cells in the bone marrow called megakaryocytes.
• They help form blood clots to slow or stop bleeding and to help wounds heal.
• Having too many or too few platelets or having platelets that don't work as they should can cause problems.

 

Normal platelet count in a body

• In the normal human body, the platelet count in dengue ranges from 1.5 lakh to 4 lakh.

 

Reasons behind drop in platelet count in Dengue

• Platelet count in dengue decreases as it suppresses bone marrow, which is the platelet-producing area.
• Platelet count in dengue decreases because of blood cells affected by the disease.
• Antibodies that are produced during this period lead to massive destruction of platelets in dengue.

 

Impact of drop in platelet count in cases of dengue

• Patient can be asymptomatic or may have bleeding manifestations, such as:
• Bleeding from gums or nose
• Blood in urine, stools or vomit
• Bleeding under the skin, which might look like bruising
• Major internal organ bleeds in few cases

 

Platelet transfusion

• In cases where platelets drop to below 10,000, platelet transfusion is required but in case of bleeding manifestations, platelet transfusions can even be given at more than the cut-off value of 10,000 too.

 

Donor eligibility criteria

• Donor eligibility criteria are the same for both platelet and whole blood donors.
• Any healthy adult who clears the screening process of the blood bank for platelet donation can donate the platelets.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/antibodies-produced-during-dengue-lead-to-massive-destruction-of-platelets-doctor-7575573/