Clinico-Laboratory Profile of Dengue Patients at Sir T. Hospital, Bhavnagar, India

Abstract

Dengue fever is caused by any one of four types of dengue viruses (DEN1-DEN4), spread mainly by Aedes aegypti. India had the largest number of dengue cases, with about 33 million apparent and another 100 million asymptomatic infections occurring annually. The patients typically present with the sudden onset of fever, frontal headache, retroorbital pain. The laboratory diagnosis can be made by IgM ELISA or by NS1 antigen-detection ELISA during the acute phase. This research was conducted from January 2018 to December 2018 at Sir T. hospital and Government Medical College in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The patients having complaints of fever, headache, myalgia, arthralgia or rash, were clinically examined, and laboratory investigated for dengue with NS1 and/or IgM dengue antibody. A total of 536 patients was screened, of which 112 patients were diagnosed as dengue fever at 21% dengue positivity rate, based on detection of NS1 (46/304, 15%), and antidengue IgM (66/232, 28%) in their sera. The majority of the patients were males (77/112, 69%). The majority of patients were in 11–30 years’ age group (66/316, 21%). Fever (100%) was the chief presenting complaint, followed by headache (83, 93%), and myalgia (79, 89%). The highest number (28) of dengue patients was observed in the month of October 2018. According to this study results, the physicians in the dengue-endemic area should be aware of dengue in acute febrile illnesses and use the appropriate laboratory tests such as NS1 antigen and IgM antibodies for early dengue diagnosis. This can help clinicians to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with dengue.