Clinical assessment of dermatological manifestations of dengue fever in a tertiary care center of Karimnagar

Abstract

Background: The changing epidemiology of dengue fevers in terms of strains, severity and geographic distribution is raising concern in India. Dengue virus infection, the most common and widespread arthropod-borne viral infection has grown dramatically in the last 50 years globally. Most commonly adults are affected by dengue, but the pediatric population is more vulnerable. Method: A hospital-based study was conducted for a period of 2 months (June -July 2019) among 134 cases of dengue fever between the age group of 3 months to 15 years presenting with symptoms & signs suggestive of dengue fever as per WHO criteria were recorded and were analyzed in detail with more emphasis on onset of skin lesions, their morphology, distribution, sites involved and progression in study area. Results: About 134 patients with dengue fever were enrolled, 70.1 % were males and 29.9 % were females. Cutaneous manifestations were present in 50.7% of patients while mucous manifestation was seen in 8.9% of patients. Bleeding manifestations were seen in 28.4% of cases with petechiae (26.3%) was the commonest manifestation. Conclusion:Though dengue is a systemic illness, more than half of the patients showed cutaneous involvement and 50% of patients had an onset of skin rash consistently with fever which can help in suspecting dengue illness. Thus skin can be involved in various ways in children with dengue fever and can help diagnose the illness clinically, especially in places with inadequate laboratory support.