Chikungunya infection in children and adolescents

Abstract

Objective: To describe the monthly distribution and clinical, laboratory and therapeutic characteristics of children and adolescents with chikungunya infection. Methods: crosssectional study with children and adolescents hospitalized at the Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira with chikungunya infection proven by specific IgM serology or reactive polymerase chain reaction. Results: 556 cases of chikungunya infection were reported in the period from September 2015 to March 2017, of which 231 were hospitalized. Of these, 67 cases were confirmed and 63 were evaluated. The most frequent clinical manifestations were fever (100%), cutaneous manifestations (88.9%), arthralgia/arthritis (58.7%) and irritability (54%). When comparing the patients by age group, children younger than 2 years old presented significantly higher percentages of the following characteristics: irritability, cutaneous manifestations, lower level of hemoglobin and antibiotic therapy, while the group of older than two years had more articular manifestations, vomiting, edema, conjunctival hyperemia and thrombocytopenia <150,000 / mm3. Conclusions: the study describes the multisystem involvement of chikungunya infection in children and adolescents during an epidemic in Recife. It should be emphasized that the characteristics of the disease may be different depending on age and that children under two years old receive more aggressive treatment.