Browsing by Author "Wickramage, K."

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    Internal migration related factors among dengue patients in Western Province, Sri Lanka
    (College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka., 2019) Peiris, S.; Welgama, I.P.; Wickramage, K.; Abeysena, C.
    INTRODUCTION: In recent years, Sri Lanka has experienced a surge in the incidence of dengue. Among other reasons, internal migration of people into dengue-high risk areas is thought to be an important factor for the rising case load. OBJECTIVES: To identify the factors associated with internal migration of low-income adults among dengue patients in Western Province, Sri Lanka METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the Western Province in November 2017. The study population consisted of 473 confirmed adult dengue patients. Internal migrant was defined as an adult who has moved from his original place of residence and been living in the district migrated to for less than five years. A pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. RESULTS: There were 53 (11.2%) internal migrants belonging to low-income group among the dengue patients. Of them, 30 (56.6%) stated that the reason for migration was employment while 9 (17%) indicated education. Being of age ≤30 years, coupled with low educational level showed a statistically significant association with internal migration of adults having dengue fever. Although there were more males than females, and more displaced than non-displaced among the internal migrants, these were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Younger age and low educational level were associated with internal migration mainly due to employment.
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    Symptoms of dengue at the acute and post-infection stage in the Western Province, Sri Lanka: A cross-sectional study
    (Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2019) Abeysena, C.; Peiris, S.; Welgama, I.; Gunasekara, U.; Wickramage, K.
    OBJECTIVE: To describe the symptoms of dengue at acute and post-infection stage and to identify preventive strategies adopted by the patients in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the Western Province of Sri Lanka in November 2017. The study population consisted of 473 confirmed dengue patients aged from 18 to 64 years who were hospitalized between June and August 2017. A stratified random sampling technique was applied to select the participants. Data collection was done by trained interviewers, using a structured, pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The most common symptoms of dengue fever at the acute stage was body ache (81.81%, n=387), followed by headache (71.67%, n=339), loss of appetite (66.80%, n=316), tiredness (53.06 %, n=251) and vomiting (41.86%, n=198). The most common symptom during the post-infection stage was body ache (48.62%, n=230), followed by fatigue (39.74%, n=188), and loss of appetite (28.75%, n=136). Adding sand to the water in places where water accumulates (41.64%, n=197) was the most common method used to prevent transmission of dengue followed by removing/draining stagnant water regularly (36.15%, n=177). Use of mosquito nets (83.08%, n=393) was the most common method in preventing mosquito bites followed by the use of fans among dengue patients (56.02%, n=265). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows a prolonged persistence of clinical symptoms during the postinfection period. KEYWORDS: Control, Dengue, Outbreak, Symptoms, Vector, Virus