Understanding dengue fever: A clinical and laboratory analysis of 50 cases in a tertiary care teaching hospital

ABSTRACT Introduction: Dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease in tropical countries, is rapidly becoming a global burden. Annually,100 million cases of dengue fever occur worldwide. At present, Dengue is endemic in 112 countries in the world. Increasing air travel, unplanned urbanization, and industrialization have all contributed to the spread of dengue and its increasing geographic and demographic spread. Given that four antigenically diverse dengue virus serotypes can each produce a cross-reactive and disease-enhancing antibody response against the other three, developing a dengue vaccine has proven to be a difficult undertaking. Objective: This study examines and analyses the symptomatology of dengue fever. Methodology: The present study is a prospective, observational, analytical study of 50 patients suffering from dengue-like symptoms. The data were gathered from a teaching hospital that provides tertiary care during August and October of 2022. The study was approved by the ethical committee before its commencement. Result: In this study, it is observed that the majority of affected patients, around 30%, lie within the age group of 18–20 years. Fever was present in all the patients with variations in other symptoms; the major ones being body aches, rashes, and headaches. They all presented with a decrease in platelet count. Conclusion: According to the study done, we conclude that the most susceptible age group for dengue is from 18 to 20, and males are more adversely affected than females. The leading reason for dengue fever is thrombocytopenia. 50% of the patients show elevated ALT and AST levels.