Dermato-Epidemiological Characteristics of Cutaneous Manifestations Due to Dengue in Children Attended in a Pediatric Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Dengue is an arbovirus responsible for various skin manifestations. These reach a frequency of between 20 and 65 %.

Objective: To characterize, from the dermato-epidemiological point of view, cutaneous manifestations of dengue in children.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional observational study. It was carried out at the Dr. Eduardo Agramonte Piña Provincial Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Camagüey, from January to March 2022. The universe included 150 children with a confirmed diagnosis of dengue and presence of skin manifestations. The variables studied were: age group, sex, skin color, type of manifestations, days of appearance of these in relation to fever onset, location, and resolution time. Data were expressed in numbers and percentages.

Results: There was a predominance of the age groups from 0 to 4 and from 5 to 9 years, both with 43 cases (28.7 %). The male sex was the most representative (51.4 %). White skin color reached 70.7 %. Macular rash (54.7 %) and morbilliform rash (28.7 %) appeared more frequently. Lesions emerged on the third day of fever (39.3 %). Generalized location stood out with 28.7 %. Resolution occurred in this order: macular rash, morbilliform rash, and then the rest.

Conclusions: The most common cutaneous manifestations were macular rash and morbilliform exanthema, mostly in white-skinned patients. These appeared between the second and fourth day of fever, and then were the first to disappear.