Dengue haemorrhagic fever in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: a study of 56 confirmed cases.

Abstract We studied 56 cases of serologically confirmed dengue haemorrhagic fever living in the metropolitan area of Niteroi and surrounding cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The most frequent findings were fever and myalgia. Spontaneous haemorrhagic manifestations occurred in 46 patients, and 23 of these had more than one kind of bleeding; petechiae and bleeding gums were the most frequent association. The distribution according to the World Health Organization's criteria of severity was 6 in grade I, 23 in grade II, 24 in grade III and 3 in grade IV.