title: Dengue hemorrhagic fever outbreak in children in Port Sudan.
abstract: Dengue fever (DF)/dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) has emerged as a global public health problem with countries in Asia and the Pacific sharing more than 70% of the disease burden. In 2004-2005 a total of 312 cases admitted to Pediatric and Sea Port Hospitals in Port Sudan were clinically diagnosed as DHF. The mortality rate recorded was 3.8% (n=12). Of the cases 73.4% were patients 5-15 years of age. A total of 91.2% of cases were admitted during May and June 2005 with 49.4% residing in the eastern region of Port Sudan. Dengue shock syndrome was observed in 37 of 312 (11.9%). All patients had thrombocytopenia with platelets count ranged from <100,000 to <150,000 cell/mm³. Of the 40 sera tested using RAPID-cassette test in the Khartoum Central Public Health Lab, 36 (90%) were dengue IgM positive. A subset of these sera (n=23) were sent to NAMRU-3 and confirmed by IgM-capture ELISA; 9 of 23 were PCR positive for dengue serotype 3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric, Red Sea University, Port Sudan, Sudan.
authors.forename: Amal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Earhart
authors.forename: Emad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mohareb
authors.forename: Magdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: Mubarak
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ageep
authors.forename: Atef
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soliman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010976:Platelet Count; D019595:Severe Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D013397:Sudan / Q000453:epidemiology; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000175:diagnosis