Loading...
Early diagnosis of dengue fever can improve patient outcomes and help prevent further spread of the virus. Investigators recently analyzed data for 2007 and 2008 from an enhanced dengue surveillance system in Puerto Rico, where the illness is endemic, to identify early clinical features that were independently associated with dengue fever. They included all laboratory-positive and laboratory-negative cases of suspected dengue fever and excluded cases with dengue-indeterminate laboratory results and those in children aged <1 year. Laboratory confirmation was defined as anti-dengue IgM seroconversion, anti-dengue IgM positivity on a specimen, or virus identification through serotype-specific reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PC…