Dengue and dengue-like fevers in children

ABSTRACT

Dengue fever, a known tropical disease, was overlooked for many years in the Philippines until about 1956 when a virologist, Dr. W. Mcb. Hammon, in an effort to seek the etiology of a febrile hemorrhagic symptom-complex first described in 1954 by Quintos et al found in their blood samples an antibody rise and also isolated strains of dengue virus. In fact, Hammon was convinced for his viral studies that during th epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers in this country,. even influenza-like cases at that time were manifestations of an infection with the same virusThis paper presents observations in a group of 52 children, ranging from 2 to 7 years old, who were hospitalized in 1960 due to fever, headache, abdominal pain, restlessness, flushing, and often with a terminal purplish rash in the hands up to the arms and feet up to the legsThe blood count showed a shift to the left in Schillings hemogram, increase in the stab count, monecytosis and plasmocytosisHemorrhages varying in severity, site and extent (hematuria, melena, epistaxis, petechia or hematuria) were observed in 25 cases (46.1%). Blood studies revealed that the hemorrhagic tendency was the result of increased capillary fragility and permeability rather than the more common concept of thrombocytopeniaAn additional laboratory examination in this study was the hemagglutination inhibition test which has given us some light on the etiology of the symptom complex under study. (Summary)