Dengue fever as a cause of acute febrile illness in Sharkiya

ABSTRACT

The prersent work aimed at detection of dengue as a cause of acute febrile illness in Sharkiya. One hundred patients complaining of fever, headache, myalgia and arthralgia were included in the present study. Acute and convalescent serum samples were collected from each patient and tested by indirect ELISA for the presence of dengue virus immunoglobulin G. Four-fold rise in antibody titre was found in sera eight patients"from acute to convalescent". The eight patients had leucopenia and none of them showed haemorrhagic manifestations. The present study showed that dengue fever can not be ignored as a possible cause of acute febrile illness in Sharkyia. So infection control measures must be taken to prevent its spread, especially in new countries, through people comming from endemic areas. Also, it is recommended to facilitate methods for laboratory diagnosis of dengue fever for early detection and treatment