Dengue-ocular manifestation and disease outcome

Abstract

Dengue fever is one of the most common arthropod borne viral diseases. A myriad of ocular manifestations, ranging from mild subconjunctival hemorrhage to retinal hemorrhages and rarely to vision threatening complications such as optic neuropathy and panophthalmitis, have been reported. Therefore, this study was undertaken to document the ocular changes among dengue fever patients along with its association on further course of disease outcome and to study the ocular manifestations associated with dengue fever along with its association on further course of disease outcome. An observational Study was conducted in the Departments of Medicine and Ophthalmology, SRMS-IMS, Bareilly, U.P from September 2015 to November 2015 on 100 patients admitted. All patients underwent complete evaluation with respect to systemic and ophthalmic examination. Of 42 patients 10 patients with platelet counts b/w 35–50000 were found to have subconjunctival hemorrhage, rest other have platelet count below 35000. Retinal hemorrhage was not found in any patient having platelet counts above 25000 (at presentation or dropped during daily monitoring during hospital stay). All patient with subconjunctival hemorrhage must go for further ocular (fundus) examination. Retinal hemorrhage if detected early, may prove as a good marker that may further predict course of hemorrhagic complication in a dengue fever patient and also has correlation with platelet counts of patients.