INTRODUCTIONDengue is one of the world's emerging and rapidly spreading pandemic disease of public health importance. The word dengue was derived from the "ka-dinga pepo" which means "cramp like seizure" in Swahili. Dengue virus was first isolated in Japan in the year 1943, followed by India at Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1944 from serum samples of US soldiers.1 Dengue fever is a viral infection caused by Dengue Virus belonging to Flaviviridae family.2 Dengue virus has four serotypes, DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4. 3 Infection by serotype provides lifelong immunity against that particular serotype, but further infection with other serotypes leads to deadlier form of dengue infection. But each serotype is able to produce the full spectrum of ABSTRACT Background: Dengue is one of the world's emerging and rapidly spreading pandemic disease of public health importance. High rainfall and low temperatures are associated with increased number of dengue cases. Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted between 15 th August 2013 and 15 th October 2013. With a sample of 200 in a tertiary care multi-speciality hospital in Puducherry using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. The study protocol was approved by ICMR and Institutional (PIMS) Ethical Committee. Participants were included in the study based on the following criteria: (1) More than 20 years of age. (2) Permanent resident of Pondicherry. Results: Out of the 200 participants 68% were males and 32% were females. Most of them (64%) had gone to schools, while 9.5% were illiterates. Of the 200 participants, 180 (90%) knew that mosquito is the vector for Dengue. 162 (81%) of participants felt hospitalisation is necessary for dengue management. 80% of participants mentioned use of ceiling fan as a predominantly used preventive measure against mosquito bite, whereas 43% of them use mosquito coils to avoid mosquito bites. Majority of the respondents (66%) spend less than Rs.100 ($ 1.47) in a month for various mosquito preventive measures. Conclusions: The knowledge about dengue was good, although more awareness needs to be created to identify the clinical signs of dengue. The overall attitude and practices of the participants towards dengue care, prevention and control is good.

Background and Aim: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a transpiring entity, which possesses high short-term/early mortality (28 days). Several mortality predictors have been studied, but none were proved reliable. Serum ferritin, an acute phase reactant and marker of hepatic necro-inflammation, is found to predict mortality in multiple liver diseases. We aimed to evaluate the role of serum ferritin and other clinical features, biochemical parameters and conventional scoring systems in predicting early mortality among ACLF. Methods: A prospective cohort study was done from October 2017 to March 2019 at a tertiary care (non-transplant) center in eastern India. A total of consecutive 50 ACLF patients diagnosed, based on Asia Pacific Association for the Study of liver disease definition, were investigated for ferritin and other laboratory parameters on day-0, day-7, and followed up for 28 days. Results: Although the majority did not have organ failure (ACLF grade 0) according to European Association for Study of Liver-chronic liver failure sequential organ failure assessment criteria, early mortality was high (56%). On undergoing univariate analysis, multiple variables (ascites, HE, creatinine, total leucocyte count (TLC), bilirubin, albumin) predicted mortality. However, on multivariate analysis, only total bilirubin independently predicted. None of the scores on day-0 were predictive, while model for end-stage liver disease [area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC)-0.703, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.535-0.859] and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (AUROC-0.697, 95% CI: 0.550-0.855) on day-7 did. Conclusion: ACLF is a dynamic process; day-7 assessment with above predictors, to be considered a milestone for prognostication and opting treatment modalities. Serum ferritin does not predict early mortality in ACLF.