Recovery of virus from the liver of children with fatal dengue: reflections on the pathogenesis of the disease and its possible analogy with that of yellow fever.

Dengue viruses types 2 or 3 were recovered from the liver of 5 out of 17 children who were suspected to have died of dengue. Among the 5 children with liver isolates, virus was also recovered from the heart blood, spleen and midbrain of one and from the spleen of another. Attention is drawn to the many similarities in the clinical manifestations of yellow fever and severe dengue, their indistinguishable liver lesions and the close relationship of the viruses themselves. In view of the liver isolates reported here and those described by others, it is suggested that the pathogenesis of the two diseases may be analogous.