A case of imported Dengue fever with acute hepatitis

A Case of Imported Dengue Fever with Acute Hepatitis Sang-jun Suh, M.D., Yeon Seok Seo, M.D., Jae Hong Ahn, M.D., Eun Bum Park, M.D., Sun Jae Lee, M.D., Jang-uk Sohn, M.D., Soon Ho Um, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea Dengue fever is an acute febrile disease caused by the dengue virus, which belongs to the flaviviridae family, and this virus is transmitted by the bite of the mosquito Aedes aegypti. It occurs in the tropical climates of the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, India, Africa and the subtropical zone of America. Imported cases of Dengue fever and Dengue hemorrhagic fever are rapidly increasing as many Koreans are now traveling abroad. Liver injury is usually detected by laboratory investigation according to a surveillance protocol. Although liver injury by dengue virus has been described in Asia and the Pacific islands, the pathogenic mechanisms are not yet fully clarified. It is usually expressed in a self-limiting pattern and the patient has a complete recovery. We report here on a case of a young woman who presented with general weakness, nausea and significant elevation of the aminotransferase levels, and she was diagnosed with dengue fever. (Korean J Hepatol 2007;13:556-559)