Disseminated intravascular coagulation in Korean hemorrhagic fever

To investigate the nature and role of coagulation and complement alterations in the pathogenesis of Korean hemorrhagic fever (KHF), the profiles from the early stages in 27 male patients were serially evaluated. Evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) was observed in 14 of the 27 patients (51.8%) sometime during the course of the disease. The earlier the coagulation tests were performed, the more frequently the evidence of DIC was found. The mean serum C3 concentration was significantly decreased during the early stages, while serum C4 concentrations revealed no significant variation. A significant decrease of the serum C3 concentration, however, was found only in the group with DIC. Korean hemorrhagic fever (KHF) is an acute, systemic disease characterized by fever, hemorrhagic manifestations, and renal failure. This disease has been known to occur from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea under various synonyms and toponyms including epidemic hemorrhagic fever, hemorrhagic nephrosonephritis and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Recent investigations demonstrated the identity of these conditions described from Korea, the Soviet Union, Japan, and China. Nephropathia epidemica of Scandinavia was also revealed to have a close serological relation to this disease, but with antigenic differences. The etiologic agent was identified in 1978 by Lee et al., who isolated a viral antigen from a field mouse, Apodemus agrarius coreae, which is the natural reservoir of this disease in Korea. The KHF or Hantaan virus has been propagated in cell cultures and observed electronmicroscopically. In thin sections, the virus was detected within the cytoplasmic granular matrices (viroplasms) of the infected cells. Virus particles were spherical and had an extremely electron-dense core. Negative-contrast staining showed that the virus had an icosahedral structure and annular surface capsomeres. The morphology and morphogenesis of the virus were similar to those of the orbiviruses. The characteristic pathologic findings observed in fatal cases of KHF are congestion and hemorrhage of the renal medulla, hemorrhage in the right atrial wall of the heart, and hemorrhage and necrosis in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. The microscopic characteristics of these lesions consist of hemorrhage, coagulation necrosis, and mononuclear cell infiltration. The clinical course of typical KHF may be divided into five phases, each designated for a characteristic physiologic aberration; febrile, hypotensive, oliguric, diuretic, and convalescent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)