Clinical manifestations of dengue haemorrhagic fever in children in Bandung, Indonesia.
To describe the clinical manifestations of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) all children with a clinical diagnosis of DHF admitted to the paediatric ward of the Dr. Hassan Sadikin General Hospital (Bandung, Indonesia) between April 1st 1991 and September 30th 1993 were enrolled in a prospective study. Of the 306 children with a clinical diagnosis of DHF on admission in only 128 (41.8%) the diagnosis of DHF was confirmed by HI test. Of the confirmed cases, 24 (19%) developed shock and 1 (0.7%) died. Of the 174 cases with a negative HI test, 33 (19%) developed shock and 4 (2%) died. Four of the children died of shock before an hemagglutination inhibitor (HI) test was performed. The overall case mortality rate was 2.9%. The symptoms and signs of the 128 children with serologically confirmed DHF included fever or a history of fever (100%), petechiae (29.7%), epistaxis (39.1%), other forms of bleeding (5.5%), a positive Tourniquet test (78.1%), hepatomegaly (46.9%), epigastric pain (61.7%), vomiting (55.5%), thrombocytopenia < 100,000/mm3 (3.2% on admission and 15.3% during hospitalisation). Four (3%) children developed encephalopathy and 1 child an acute liver failure. In order to decrease the mortality associated with DHF early diagnosis and adequate case management are essential.
Chairulfatah
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Department of Child Health, University School of Medicine, Padjadjaran.
Setiabudi
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Ridad
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Colebunders
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R
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003715:Dengue / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D006385:Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D007223:Infant; D011446:Prospective Studies