Neurological Manifestations of Dengue Fever

Dengue is a common endemic infection in India. Neurological complications involving various parts of the neuro-axis have been reported. We report neurological complications amongst dengue patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Western India.

Patients admitted in a tertiary hospital in Western India with dengue infection and having neurological symptoms were included in this study. Their history, physical examination, laboratory investigations and imaging studies were obtained from the inpatient records and analysed.

Between January 2014 to December 2019, a total of 5821 patients were diagnosed with dengue. Of these, 154 (2.64%) had neurological manifestations. Encephalopathy in a setting of multisystem involvement was seen in 31.2% patients, encephalitis with focal features, abnormal imaging and/or abnormal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination was seen in 15.6%, syncope in 27.3% and acute symptomatic seizure in 11.0%. Less common presentations were intracranial haemorrhage (4.5%), Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) (3.2%), optic neuritis (1.9%), myositis (1.3%), hypokalemic paralysis (1.3%), ischemic stroke (0.6%), posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) (0.6%), myoclonus (0.6%) and brachial plexopathy (0.6%).

In this study of patients admitted with dengue, neurological complications due to dengue were seen in 2.64%. Encephalopathy, encephalitis and syncope were the commonest manifestations, followed by acute symptomatic seizures, intracranial haemorrhage and GBS. The entire neuroaxis can be involved in dengue infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest reported study of neurological complications of dengue.