Abstract

Background: Symptomatic dengue virus infections can present with a wide range of clinical manifestations, from mild febrile illness to a life-threatening shock syndrome or organ dysfunction. Aim and Objectives: To study the clinical manifestations and laboratory findings of dengue cases, which is important for patient management and crucial for saving life. Material and Methods: Hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted from July to December 2015, included suspected dengue cases aged 16 years and above admitted in the medical wards of the hospital. Detailed epidemiological, clinical, 2 and laboratory parameters recorded. Chi-square (χ ) test and descriptive statistics were analyzed using SPSS (17.0).
Results: Of the total 114 patients, 64 (56.1%) males and 50 (43.8%) were females. Majority of the affected patients were in the age group of 31–40 years (6 (31.5%)). Commonest symptom and sign observed was fever in 103 (90.3%). Signs of quadrant/epigastric tenderness, tachycardia, flushing were observed in more than > 50% of the patients and bradycardia, right upper shifting dullness, evidence of pleural effusion, shortness of breath, low blood pressure, low urine output, cold extremities were observed in less than 30% of patients. The commonest complication was severe abdominal bloating (8 (7.0%)), major bleeding and hepatitis in 5 (4.3%) of the patients. Briefly, 13 (11.4%) required the ICU treatment. In total, 107 (93.8%) had thrombocytopenia, raised AST and ALT in 89 (78.0%), leucopania in 74 (64.9%), ascites in 71 (62.2%), gall bladder wall edema in 64 (56.1%), and hematocrit in 28 (24.5%) of the patients. Also, 92 (80.7%) patients were NS1 positive. Conclusion: Manifestations of dengue cases are acute and varied. Proper confirmation of diagnosis, early institution of therapy helps in dengue prevention and management.