Wasil Khan, Bacha Amin Khan, Zar Khan, Abid-ur Rehman, Mohammad Akbar, Ishtiaq Ali Khan.
Dengue Fever; The Clinical Pattern And Mortality In Epidemic And Post Epidemic Years In Swat.
Professional Med J Jan ;24(10):1466-70.

Introduction: Dengue fever is arboviral infection transmitted from infected person to non-infected one by mosquitoes Aedes Aegypti or Aedes albopectis. All four serotypes (DEN- 1, DEN-2, DEN-3 & DEN-4) can cause the clinical manifestations of disease. Dengue infection can cause acute febrile illness, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). About 50-100 million cases of dengue fever reported annually worldwide in which 0.5 million may need admission. Overall mortality of dengue fever is 3%. The diagnosis of dengue is established by classical clinical features along with specific investigations like PCR, detection of dengue NS1 antigen or IgM or IgG antibodies in the blood of infected person. Dengue is endemic in most part of our country and can become epidemics on and off. Objectives: To study the pattern and mortality of Dengue fever during epidemic and post epidemic years in Swat. Setting: This study was conducted in Medical Department of Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, Swat. Period: Aug 2013 to November, 2016. Patients and method: Patients suffering from acute febrile illness with features suggestive of Dengue fever were included in the study. Clinical criteria for initial diagnosis directed the subsequent diagnostic work up. Dengue was confirmed in these patients by either Dengue NS1 or Ig M antibodies in their blood. Written consent for participation in study was taken from all the included patients. Formal permission was taken from Institutional Review Board of the institution to perform this study. The clinical and laboratory data were recorded on a proforma and analyzed using SPSS 20. Results: Among 5569 patients, 3834 (68.85 %) were male and 1735 (31.15%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 30 years SD 15.20. The most common age group that suffered with Dengue fever was the adult age group (13-30 years). Dengue Hemorrhegic Fever was diagnosed in 2543 (45.6%) patients and 50 (0.89 %) had features of DSS. A total 5018 (90.1 %) patients were completely cured while 37 (0.66 %) patients died. The overall mortality was 0.66%. Patients with Dengue fever presented to the hospital though out the year but more than 50% of cases were reported in the month of September. Conclusion: Adult age group and male gender is most commonly affected by Dengue fever. Dengue fever was endemic in Swat valley and it can become cyclic epidemic in post epidemic years. Dengue fever can claim so many precious lives if proper preventive measures were not taken in future.

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