The clinical behavior of dengue in patients hospitalized in the Antonio Roldán Betancur Hospital of Apartadó, Antioquia, 2000.

Abstract

Introduction. Dengue has exhibited an epidemic behaviour in Apartad6 since 1998.
Objective. To describe the clinical behavior of dengue in patients hospitalized with this diagnosis in the Antonio Roldán Betancur Hospital of Apartadó in the year 2000.
Materials And Methods. Descriptive retrospective study with variables obtained from clinical records of patients hospitalized with dengue in the Antonio Roldán Betancur Hospital of Apartadó.
Results. 45 patients with the diagnosis of dengue were hospitalized during the study period, all of them with IgM antibodies against dengue virus. Three (6.7%) patients were classified as classic dengue fever, 22 (48.9%) as dengue fever with haemorrhagic manifestations, and 20 patients (44.4%) were classified as dengue haemorrhagic fever. Patient age ranged from 4 months to 68 years, with a mean of 22.1 years. The great majority of patients (82.8%) came from urban areas. The most frequent clinical manifestations were fever (100%), myalgia (71.1%), joint pain (71.1%), headache (70%) and abdominal pain (67.5%). The most frequent haemorrhagic manifestations were petechiae (60%), hematuria (31.7%), ecchymoses on venipuncture sites (24.4%), gastric bleeding (22.2%) and abnormal vaginal bleeding (15.5%). Platelet count ranged from 11.000 to 186.000/mm3, with a mean of 48.688. Hematocrit ranged from 26% to 59% with a mean of 41.5%. Four of the 45 patients died. 40% of patients had other co-morbidities; coinfection with malaria was the most frequent amongst them (8 patients, 17.7%).
Conclusion. Two remarkable findings of our descriptive retrospective study were the high mortality of dengue in our population (8.8%) 4/45, specially in children under 1 year of age (3/4) and the high incidence of simultaneous infection with malaria parasites.