Treatment of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever at Children's Hospital No. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, 1991-1996

The clinical manifestation, diagnosis, and treatment of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) presented in this communication were based on the data collected at the DHF Department, Children’s Hospital No. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, during 1991-1996. The principal cause of death in most cases was circulatory failure (hypovolemic shock), thus making an early diagnosis, recognizing the impending shock and treating patients correctly were the best measures to save the life of DHF-afflicted children. At the DHF Department where a great number of DHF patients were seen each year, with these measures the case fatality rate (CFR) of dengue shock syndrome (DSS) was brought down significantly from 12.5% in 1975 to 0.5% in 1993-1995.