BACKGROUND Dengue Fever is a major health problem worldwide. India is one of the seven countries in the South-East Asia region regularly reporting incidence of DF/DHF outbreaks due to its high incidence which constantly threatens the health care system. The first confirmed report of dengue infection in India dates back to 1940s, and since then more and more new states have been reporting the disease which mostly strikes in epidemic proportions often inflicting heavy morbidity and mortality. Aim-To study the clinical profile of Dengue Fever.
MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was undertaken as a hospital based descriptive study with prospective data collection at Government General Hospital, Nizamabad. The questionnaire was developed and based on a review of literature. The questionnaire was tested. The data was collected using a questionnaire. Hundred patients with confirmed dengue fever admitted to Government General Hospital during 5 months period from May 2016 to September 2016 were selected for this study. NS1 antigen and IgM dengue antibody-positive cases were included. These patients were admitted with fever, myalgia, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain or bleeding manifestations. NS1 antigen and IgM dengue antibody was estimated using capture ELISA. The diagnosis of dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome was based on the WHO criteria.
RESULTSA total of 100 cases admitted to the hospital in May 2016 to September 2016 were statistically analysed. Most of dengue cases occurred during the month of June to September depicts the role of rainy season on clustering of cases. Majority of the cases, 62% were male and 38% were female. Maximum number of cases (25%) were in the age group of 21-30 years as seen in Table 1. As seen in Table 2, fever was present in all cases and is the most common symptom followed by headache (93%), myalgia (90%), vomiting (62%), abdominal pain (39%), breathlessness (20%), skin rash (8%), and altered sensorium (13%). Haemorrhagic manifestations (5%) included petechiae, ecchymosis, gum bleeding, haematuria, melaena, hematemesis and epistaxis. (As seen in Table 3). In the study, 43 patients had complications of which most common were hepatic dysfunction 23%, renal failure 14%, multiorgan failure 2%, encephalopathy 2% and ARDS in 2%.
CONCLUSIONAt present dengue infection is a major health problem in our country, especially in Telangana state. It presents as a highly unspecific illness and is hardly recognised as a clinical entity by primary health care physicians. This study supports further studies on applying interventional measures to improve the diagnostic accuracy and precision at the primary healthcare level in dengue endemic regions. This study highlights the importance of dengue fever to clinicians in the areas of epidemiology, manifestations, complications and outcome of the disease.
