Hemostatic defects in Dengue infection at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate haemostatic defects in dengue infection. A cross sectional study was conducted from 2013-2014 at National Institute of Blood Diseases & Bone Marrow Transplantation, Karachi. Total 127 dengue patients of either sex were included. After clinical examination, serology was performed to confirm dengue. The complete blood picture (CBC), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen, D-Dimer, liver function tests were performed. Out of 127 cases about 95.8% patients presented with myalgia and 88 had headaches. No splenomegaly or hepatomegaly was observed. Serologic antibodies were found in all patients. Average platelet count and white blood cell count were 47.2x103 /ul and 5.3x103/ul respectively. Eighty-three patients had prolonged PT while 92 patients had prolonged APTT value. Raised total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and SGPT were found in 7, 91 and 87 patients respectively. Highly elevated D-Dimer values were recorded in 96% cases while only 12% patients had higher fibrinogen levels. Marked hematological abnormalities were observed among all the patients diagnosed with DF regardless of age, sex and clinical presentation. Clinically significant haemostatic abnormalities were also recorded in DF patients suggestive of abnormalities in coagulation and fibrinolytic pathways.