[Clinical study on dengue fever during 1987-1988 epidemic at Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan].

This is a report of the clinical analysis of 250 cases of dengue fever-like patients during the 1987-1988 epidemic in Southern Taiwan at Harn's clinic, Kaohsiung city. The results were: The peak age groups were between 20-40 years old. The ratio of male to female was 1:14. 98% patients presented with fever of mainly 3 to 6 days duration. 98% reported body pain, which included headache (82%), generalized soreness (65%), low back pain (50%). 95% patients had GI symptoms, such as anorexia (73%), nausea (60%), vomiting (45%). 97% patients complained of dizziness and weakness, and 22.4% patients had a bleeding tendency. The common bleeding sites were involving the subcutaneous (skin), gum, uterus, nasal cavity, GI tract, retina, and GU tract. The eruption rate was 78%. A majority of rashes appeared on the extremities, and then spread to the trunk. Less common symptoms were insomnia, chest tightness, urgency of urination, cough, running nose, palpitation, and shock. 45% patients were noted with hair loss. The hair loss was the latest presenting symptom, which tended to occur about two months after the recovery stage, and lasted for about one month. On physical examination, 62.6% patients had conjunctivitis, while only 1.3% had lymph node enlargement. Usually, the whole clinical course lasted for 7 to 14 days. Laboratory examination showed that leukopenia was noted from the second day and reached the lowest count on the fifth day, and recovered on 9th or 10th day. In 247 blood sera tested serologically for dengue fever, 84 were confirmed, while 157 were not confirmed yet due to patients' reluctance to accept a second blood drawing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)