Dengue Fever in Pediatrics

Abstract

Dengue continues to be a health problem in the world, according to data from the PAHO. In recent years, dengue cases have been reported from 505,430 cases in the year 2000 to 5.2 million in the year 2019; among the most affected groups are those under 15 years of age. Dengue is a viral disease caused by a virus of the Flaviviridae family, of the Flavivirus genus. It is a disease that requires the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito; the incubation period varies from 8 to 12 days. The pathophysiology of dengue is due to the alterations suffered by the endothelium when caused by the viral particle. Three phases have been identified: 1. the febrile phase; 2. the critical phase, in which patients develop systemic symptoms with a greater inflammatory response, with a risk of bleeding; and 3. the recovery phase. The main symptoms are fever, headache, retro-ocular pain, arthralgia, myalgia, and within the laboratory alterations are elevated hematocrit (hemoconcentration), leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia, among the complications, are pleural and pericardial effusion and ascites, as well like crash and death.