Clinical, Biochemical, and Hematological Pointers toward Dengue Infection in Patients with Acute Undifferentiated Fever

Background: Acute undifferentiated fever (AUF) is fever of < 3 weeks duration with no organ-specific disease features. Dengue infection occurs throughout the year and accounts for about 5% of the cases of AUF. The prompt and appropriate diagnosis will help avoid the use of antibiotics and antimalarials. The tests for carrying out screening for dengue infection are not universally available and are expensive. Hence, the need for appropriate clinical, biochemical, and hematological pointers toward the diagnosis of dengue and it's complications. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective observational study at MIMS, Mandya. The patient's data, platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), biochemical parameters, and clinical characteristics were selected using standard pro forma. Results: Out of 162 patients with an acute differentiated fever, 15 patients had dengue fever, A headache was present in all patients with dengue fever and was statistically significant. Thrombocytopenia, decreased MPV and PDW, was associated with dengue fever and was statistically significant. Conclusion: The hematological parameters like reduced platelet count, MPV and PDW in patients with AUF significantly points toward possibility of dengue fever.