Features of DIC in dengue hemorrhagic fever

Collaborative studies on hemostasis in dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients by Indonesian and Japanese teams revealed that all DHF patients had manifestations of the acute type of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Prolongations of activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time and decreases of platelet counts, fibrinogen, prothrombin, factor VIII, plasminogen and antithrombin III activities were observed transiently during the acute stage of DHF. It was also found that alpha 2 antiplasmin was decreased in the acute stage to 32% of the normal level on the average. This may characterize the hemorrhagic diathesis of the DHF patients.