Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever: Disorders of Hemostasis

Dengue illness caused by any of the four serotypes of den-gue viruses (DEN1-4) is currently the most important mos-quito-borne viral disease in the tropical areas of the world. It has been estimated that 20 million cases of dengue occur annually worldwide; around 500,000 cases, mainly the most severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), require hos-pitalization. With the case fatality rate of DHF varying from 1 % to 5 % a significant number of deaths, around 24,000 cases, occur each year, most of them are children(1). Dengue virus infections can be asymptomatic or cause any of the following illnesses, undifferentiated fever, den-gue fever (DF) and DHF. Dengue fever is a syndrome of 5-7 days of fever, headache, myalgia, bone/joint pain and rash, often accompanied by leukopenia. Occasionally variable degrees of thrombocytopenia and hemorrhage (usually cu