Uso de pruebas NS1/IgM en niños con sospecha de dengue en un servicio de urgencias

Dengue is a febrile illness of viral origin. Infants and toddlers with dengue infection are at increased risk of developing severe dengue. Rapid tests can support the clinical diagnosis. Objective: Describe the use of rapid tests for the diagnosis of dengue in the emergency department. Methodology: Cross sectional study in pediatrics emergency services of two institutions in the city of Bogota during 2011 to 2013. We include patients under16 years with clinical diagnosis of dengue. We reviewed clinical histories and laboratories. We performed frequency analysis, tendency and comparison of means (T-Student and Wilcoxon). The bivariate analysis included correlation coefficients (Pearson and Sperman Rho). Results: We recorded 864 emergencies in under 16 years by clinical diagnosis of dengue. Only 74 (8.5%) had positive results for NS1 or IgM. The men (55.4%) were more affected and the age group between 10 and 15 years (55.4%). Fever, dehydration and vomiting were the signs and symptoms more identified during admission. Most of the patients came from cities located less than 1500 meters above sea level. 51.3% of the 74 patients with positive results in the rapid laboratory test were hospitalized for treatment. Discussion: Rapid tests were positive only in 8.5% of all patients. We found a cyclical behavior in the incidence of cases in emergencies (school holidays with travel to recreational areas in cities of reduced height).