Dengue fever outbreak in Karachi 2006--a study of profile and outcome of children under 15 years of age.

Objective: To evaluate children with serologically confirmed Dengue fever in order to identify common clinical features, progress of disease, grades of severity and outcome of cases during the outbreak in 2006.

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted on serologically positive children with Dengue fever (DF) admitted in Civil Hospital Karachi and Liaquat National Hospital between October and November 2006. Various clinical features and laboratory parameters were analyzed for frequencies. Data was also evaluated to identify the common clinical types and grades of infection as classified by WHO.

Results: A total of 35 children were evaluated in the study. Mean age of children was 8.3 +/- 3.5 years and majority was male (54%). Sixty five percent were under 10 +/- 3.5 years of age. Frequent clinical features included fever (97%), vomiting (68%), abdominal pain (68%) and rashes (65%). Gastrointestinal bleeding (61%) and epistaxis (26%) were commonest haemorrhagic manifestations. Thrombocytopenia (86%), anaemia (57%) and Leucopenia (43%) were common laboratory findings. Leukocyte count improved in 2 to 7 days and Platelet count in 2 to 8 days. Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) was seen in 22 children (62%). Majority had Grade-II severity. Mortality was 1 (3%) out of 35 patients.

Conclusion: 2006 outbreak of Dengue infection in Karachi showed slight difference in clinical features and course of disease compared to epidemics in other regions, thereby, indicating the need for continuous seroepidemeological surveillance.