Headache and Dengue: clinical characterization

• Grant number: 11/19245-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: July 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: José Geraldo Speciali
• Grantee: Olga Francis Pita Chagas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Dengue is characterized as an acute febrile disease whose etiologic agent is composed of four serotypes, which together form a subgroup of the genus Flavivirus. Its transmission involves the bite of infected female mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, where Aedes aegypti is your main vector, due to its anthropophilic and domestic urban habitats. This infection causes a disease whose spectrum includes clinically unapparent forms until severe cases of bleeding and shock, depending on the characteristics of the virus and the population affected, and may in some cases lead to death. Moreover, its symptoms can vary from headaches to a wide range of neurological manifestations, and the headache is considered by some a classic neurological sign associated with the acute phase of illness. However, there are no studies that objectively determine its characterization. Some reports claim that this symptom is considered a gateway to possible complications of the infection. Given the lack of concrete studies related to the characterization of headache in dengue, this study, based on the information to be gained, aims to determine the characteristics of headache in dengue.(AU)