Clinical Profile and Outcome of Dengue Fever in Children Admitted to a Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Dengue is the most widespread mosquito-borne viral illness of children, and hospital series describing its clinical profile and outcome are common in the literature. This narrative review addresses the topic as it appears in published work and reports no data from any single centre. It brings together evidence on the virus and its spread, the immune and vascular events that make a minority of infections severe, the clinical course and its classification, the particular position of infants, diagnostic testing, supportive management and the few specific treatments and preventive tools that have been tested. The central message is that most paediatric dengue is self-limited, that the risk lies in a short critical phase around defervescence when plasma leakage may occur, and that outcome in well-resourced care depends far more on timely recognition and careful fluid management than on any drug. Early clinical and laboratory indicators of severity are only moderately useful, the 2009 classification has both supporters and critics, and trials of antivirals, corticosteroids, statins and platelet transfusion have not shown benefit, although most enrolled adults. Vaccine evidence depends on prior infection status and on serotype. Differences in case definitions, referral patterns and age groups limit comparison between hospital series, and the review closes with the information a comparable series should report.