Relative frequency of acute pancreatitis from dengue outbreaks as a late complication, in Egypt

Virusdisease. 2019 Dec;30(4):498-503. doi: 10.1007/s13337-019-00556-z. Epub 2019 Dec 11.

Abstract

Patients with dengue virus infection have a different symptoms range from asymptomatic to sever form depending on primary and secondary immune status of host, infecting genotype and patient's age. The current study aimed to describe the clinical and laboratory profile of dengue fever outbreak and acute pancreatitis as a late complication, in Egypt, as two case reports only were available in literature regarding this issue. This prospective cohort study was carried out on 100 patients confirmed to have dengue disease out of 200 clinically suspected patients. Clinical, laboratory (serology for dengue specific IgM, real-time PCR for dengue virus, serum amylase and lipase) and abdominal multi-slice CT were done to all included patients. All patients presented with fever, headache and fatigue, which are the main clinical manifestations of dengue fever. The mean age of studied patients was 40.34 ± 15.74 years. Thirteen patients (13%), with their mean age 44.57 ± 11.53, presented after 3 months with typical clinical, laboratory and radiological manifestations of acute pancreatitis with positive serum dengue virus IgM, antibodies and negative serum dengue virus PCR. So, acute pancreatitis as a late complication of dengue fever disease should be keep in mind for its early diagnosis and management, thus minimize the morbidity and mortality from dengue fever.

Keywords: Biochemical diagnosis; Clinical profile; Dengue fever; Egypt; MSCT; Outbreak; Pancreatitis; RT-PCR.