DENGUE INFECTIONS IN HIV PATIENTS

A retrospective review of hospital admission records was conducted on patients who were admitted to the Communicable Disease Center (CDC)/Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2005. There were 5 HIV patients who were admitted with dengue infection during the study period. Their symptoms were generally mild and recovery was uneventful. None of the patients developed dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome. The symptoms and signs of dengue infection in HIV patients are nonspecific. It is important for healthcare workers to maintain a high index of suspicion in order to make the diagnosis. Interactions between pathogenesis pathways or with antiviral treatments may have contributed to the apparently less severe dengue infections in HIV patients. This observation needs to be explored further.