Department of microbiology, Maulana Azad Medical college, New Delhi, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Dengue viral infection is one of the most important public health problem causing outbreaks every year. This study investigated the clinical manifestations of dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever(DHF) during the 2008 outbreak in Delhi and comparison with previous outbreaks was done. We tested 600 serum samples from suspected dengue patients presenting to Lok Nayak Hospital using μ capture ELISA for detection of anti-dengue IgM antibodies. The clinical characteristics of 158 serologically positive patients were analysed. Of 158 cases, 84 cases were diagnosed DF, 68 cases of DHF and 6 cases of dengue shock syndrome (DSS). The case rate peaked in September and the M:F ratio was 2.1:1. The mean age was 24.94 years. The most common symptoms were fever (91%), myalgia (64%), headache (58%), and skin rash (28.5%). Hemorrhagic manifestations observed were, gum bleeding (6.3%), epistaxis (13.29%), hematemesis (9.49%), skin rashes (28.5%) and melena (6.3%). Laboratory investigations revealed thrombocytopenia(90%), leukopenia (18.35%) and hemoconcentration in 20.2% patients. The mortality rate was less than 1%. Cases started rising earlier this year and peaked in september as compared to last two years when the peak occurred in october. The current outbreak had fewer bleeding manifestations and a low mortality rate though the average platelet count was low. This is probably because the same serotype of dengue virus is circulating in the environment as last year or the circulating strain this year is less virulent. Bleeding manifestations were seen in children at a relatively higher platelet count than adults and a greater involvement of adult male population was seen.
