Pattern of Dengue Virus Infection Cases Admitted in Tertiary Care Hospital At Hyderabad,Sindh

Objective: to find out the pattern of dengue virus infection in patients who presented with fever. study design: prospective observational study. setting: this study was conducted at research and diagnostic laboratory,liaquat university of medical & health sciences at hyderabad. sindh from november 2006 to december 2006. methods: during this period all blood samples from 173 patients,suspected to be suffering from dengue fever,dengue hemorrhagic fever and/or dengue shock syndrome,were received and tested for dengue igm and igg antibodies. complete blood counts were also done. patients with history of headache,retro-orbital pain,arthralgia,rash,and hemorrhagic manifestations,having leucopenia and thrombocytopenia were included in the study. results: most of the patients positive for dengue igm antibodies were between the age group of 14-years to 50-years (49 males and 12 females). out of 173 samples 28 were positive for dengue igm (primary infection) and 21 were positive for dengue igg (secondary infection). while 12 patients found to have late primary and early secondary response with both dengue igm and igg antibodies. conclusion: dengue fever presented in all three patterns in sindh province; males predominated mostly with primary infection.