Frequency and Severity of Pharyngeal Manifestations in patients of Dengue Fever (Dengue without warning signs-WHO Classification)

Objective: To determine the frequency & severity of pharyngeal symptoms and signs in dengue fever. Study design: It was a cross sectional survey study and non-probability purposive sampling. Place & duration of study: Hameed Latif and Ittefaq Hospital Lahore from 1-6-11 to 30-11-11 Material and method: The sample size was determined to be 73 and these patients were given a questionnaire in which they were required to give their personal data and also answer in regard to two variables. One was the presence or absence of pharyngeal symptoms. Second was the severity of pharyngeal symptoms, which if present were graded into mild intensity pain MIP (1-3), moderate intensity pain MDIP (4-6) and severe intensity pain SIP (7-10) using visual analog pain scale (VAS). Results: The examination findings were graded into mild involvement MI, moderate involvement MDI and severe involvement SI. The mean age of patients was 35.7 years, with mode of 40 years and median of 35 years and age ranging from 15 years to 75 years. Ratio of males to females was 1:1.6. The frequency of pharyngeal symptoms in dengue fever patients was found to be present in 20.5% patients and absent in 79.5% patients. Conclusion: Clinicians need to be aware of the abnormal manifestations of dengue fever in the form of pharyngeal involvement and dengue fever should be high in the differential diagnosis of any case presenting with febrile illness and sore throat in the endemic area in the hot and humid season.