Gastrointestinal and Other Atypical Presentations of Dengue Fever: A Multicenter Study in the Northern Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Dengue is a global problem, but has a greater impact on developing and tropical countries. Dengue is surging due to increasing Aedes mosquitoes in overcrowded areas. Atypical presentations of dengue are a challenge during management. That’s why we intended to determine the pattern, prevalence, and outcome of gastrointestinal and other atypical presentations of dengue fever during the 2023 epidemic in Bangladesh.

Materials and Methods: This was a multicenter hospital-based cross-sectional study held in two tertiary medical college hospitals in the northern part of Bangladesh: Rangpur Medical College Hospital and Dinajpur Medical College Hospital. All the patients who were admitted with laboratory-confirmed dengue cases from June 2023 to October 2023 were included in this study.

Results: Out of a total of 160 patients, majority were between 21-40 years of age (57%), and the predominant study subjects were male, 120 (75%). We found that 73 (45.6%) patients presented with gastrointestinal and atypical manifestations, while rest 87 (54.4%) patients had only classical presentation. The atypical manifestations are acute watery diarrhea (17.5%), acute acalculus cholecystitis (8.1%), ascites (4.4%), acute hepatitis (3.1%), pleural effusion (2.5%), pneumonia (2.5%), acute pancreatitis (1.3%), GIT bleeding (1.3%), Encephalitis (1.3%), meningitis and myocarditis.

Conclusions: Looking for these atypical features of dengue fever at least during the outbreak season of dengue may save health resources and many valuable lives.