VALUE OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD COUNT FOR DENGUE SEVERITY PREDICTION

Abstract

Objective: Dengue virus infection has diverse clinical manifestations often with unpredictable
clinical evolution and outcome. This study was to evaluate the value of the peripheral blood cell
in association with the severity of Dengue Infection. Method: This was an observational study on
480 adult patients admitted to Bach Mai Hospital (Vietnam) with Dengue illness between August
and October 2017. The diagnosis and classification of Dengue were based on WHO 2009 criteria.
Blood samples were collected from patients during acute febrile phase time in hospital and the
blood cell indices were analyzed. Results: A total 480 patients participated in the study including
223 patients of Dengue without warning signs (A), 212 patients of Dengue with warning signs (B),
and 45 patients of severe Dengue (C). B and C were considered as the severe group, and A was
classified as the non-severe group. Compared to the non-severe group, the severe group had
significantly lowered hemoglobin, WBC, lymphocytes count and percentage of lymphocyte during
acute febrile phase on day 5 of illness. The percentage
lymphocyte <25% was associated with the severe group. Conclusion: The percentage of
lymphocytes, percentage of neutrophil are likely to predict for severity.