Clinical and Laboratory Profile of Fatal Dengue Cases at a Tertiary Care Private Hospital in Mumbai, India.

Dengue-related mortality has significantly reduced with early and appropriate fluid resuscitation. However, we continue to see dengue-related fatalities in patients despite early intervention and advanced critical care support. This was a retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care private hospital in Mumbai, India. All patients dying of dengue in the calendar year 2017 were studied. Details related to age, gender, condition at presentation, laboratory parameters, treatment administered, and time to death were abstracted from case records. A total of 575 patients with a diagnosis of dengue were admitted to the hospital in 2017, of which 15 died (mortality rate 2.6%). Four patients died in the emergency medical unit; 11 patients who died after admission to the inpatient unit had multi-organ dysfunction at the time of presentation, with shock, severe liver dysfunction, and severe metabolic acidosis. Only 4/11 patients had hemoconcentration, and 10/11 patients had high white cell counts. In five patients where serum ferritin was performed, it was more than 40,000 ng/mL. Death occurred at a median time of 2 days after hospitalization despite good supportive care. Although there is scope for improvement of supportive care in these patients, it appears that other interventions are urgently needed to improve outcomes in severe dengue. This calls for more research into the immunopathology of dengue, evaluation of anti-inflammatory drugs, intravenous immunoglobulins, antivirals, and improved vaccines.