ABSTRACT
Objective: to observe the different clinical presentations of dengue fever in patients presenting with acute febrile illness
Material and Methods: this retrospective observational study was conducted in medicine department, Akhtar Saeed Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore in September 2011. Patients presenting with acute febrile illness in both OPD and emergency were included. History was taken and clinical examination was done. Blood samples were collected for Complete blood count, Liver function tests, renal function tests and serology for Dengue virus lgM by ELISA. Symptoms and investigations were analyzed
Results: total 300 patients were included in the study. Females were187 [62.3%] and males were 113 [37.7%]. Mean age of patients was 33.4 years. Headache was the most common presentation in 284 [94.6%] patients, myalgia was present in 271 [90.3%] patients, fever was present in 257 [85.6%] patients, vomiting in 190 [63.3%] and rash with petechie in 53 [17.6%] patients. Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia was present in all 300 patients. Liver function tests were deranged in 209 [69.7%] patients and dengue lgM was present in 127 [42.3%] patients. Serum urea was deranged in 113 [37.7%] patients
Conclusion: fever associated with chills and rigors, headache, myalgia, vomiting, rash, petechie and hemorrhagic manifestations, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and raised ALT are satisfactory parameters to screen for suspected dengue virus infections. However, diagnosis cannot be confirmed unless supported by dengue specific lgM serology