DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i03.048

Pages: 1101-1106

Dengue fever is the most important emerging tropical viral disease of humans in the world today. Infants and young children are at a higher risk of developing severe illness. A total of 150 Children in the age group of 2 months to 14 years admitted with fever of 2-7 days duration who fit into the clinical case definition for probable dengue fever were investigated and those patients who were positive for any one of the tests like NS1Ag and/or IgM Ab were included in this study. Among them dengue fever WITHOUT warning signs was seen in 78 cases (52%), dengue fever WITH warning signs was seen in 60 cases (40%) and severe dengue was seen in 12 cases (8%).The common symptoms were fever which was present in all the cases (100%), followed by vomitings in (78%) cases, body pains in (70%) cases, abdominal pain in (52%) cases and headache in (46%) cases. Bleeding manifestations were seen in 70% cases with petechiae (53%) being the most common. Hypotension was observed in 57 cases (38%), shock in 18 cases (12%). Thrombocytopenia was seen in 140 cases (93 %). Hematocrit value more than 40% seen in 48 cases. NS 1Ag test was done for 90 cases and it was positive in 70 cases (77 %). Many patients were in the age group of 8 years to 12 years. The common symptoms were fever seen in (100%) cases followed by vomitings, body pains, abdominal pain and headache. Mortality in the study was 6%.Unusual manifestations like Encephalopathy, Acute renal failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome were seen in a small proportion of the patients. There is a need for health education regarding clinical symptoms and early identification of signs, along with vector control.