Ask the Doctor: Wear full sleeve clothes and avoid strong scented soaps to evade mosquitoes

Dengue virus causes destruction of platelets hence their number decreases. Platelets are an important factor for blood coagulation to prevent blood loss in various body pockets. When platelets deplete, stopping the bleeding isn’t easy. Apart from platelets, the virus also damages cells of skin, mucosa, heart, brain, eye etc. To prevent dengue, reduce the amount of skin exposed by wearing long pants and long-sleeved clothes. Use a repellent and nets to avoid mosquito bite, and avoid heavily scented soaps and perfumes as they attract mosquitos.The Aedes mosquito breeds in clean, stagnant water. Keeping a track and removing stagnant water can help reduce the risk.

Knee replacements involve much lower infection rates and shorter hospital stays so they can be done for treating knee arthritis. Total knee replacement is a very successful procedure which is more than half a century old. It has 95 per cent successful rate and has changed the quality of patients. Many new developments such as Knee arthoplasty, patient specific instruments, gender specific knees, minimally invasive surgical techniques and the use of high end computers to conduct total knee replacement. For treating early stage arthritis, medicines like safe analgesics, indra articulation injections, and physiotherapy are used. The food they eat should also be rich in protein, calcium and antioxidants derived from dairy products, seasonal fruits and vegetables.