Ophthalmic complications during the dengue epidemic in Reunion Island in 2020: a case series and review of the literature

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases 2023-08, Vol.23 (1), p.506-506, Article 506
• Main Authors: Mbu-Nyamsi, Digé, Vincent, Muriel, Perez-Fontana, Mariane, Best, Anne-Laurence, Mesnard, Charles, Villeroy, Fréderic, Foucher, Aurélie, Raffray, Loic, Terrier, Cécile Saint-Pastou, Bertolotti, Antoine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acuity; Adult; Aedes; Aedes aegypti; Aedes albopictus; Animals; Antibodies; Antigens; Aquatic insects; Automobile driving at night; Care and treatment; Complications; Complications and side effects; Corticoids; Corticosteroids; Cytokines; Dengue; Dengue - complications; Dengue - epidemiology; Dengue fever; Dengue Virus; Dengue viruses; Diagnosis; Disease transmission; Edema; Epidemics; Genetic vectors; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Literature reviews; Maculopathy; Medical records; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Mosquito Vectors; Observational studies; Observational Studies as Topic; Ocular manifestations of general diseases; Ophthalmology; Patients; Public health; Reunion - epidemiology; Reunion island; Scotoma; Serology; Signal transduction; Signs and symptoms; Vector-borne diseases; Vectors; Viral diseases; Visual acuity
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08432-4

Dengue is an arboviral disease transmitted by the dengue virus, whose vectors are Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The acute phase with its cohort of well-known symptoms is usually spontaneously favorable. Since 2020 in Reunion Island, a new symptom has appeared: the ocular damage of dengue fever, which has already been described in South Asia and South-East Asia. We therefore decided to describe the clinical, biological, ophthalmological, therapeutic, and outcomes of patients with ocular manifestations during dengue fever in Reunion Island in 2020. This was a retrospective observational study. Patients were included from January 2020 to August 2020 and then reassessed by teleconsultation 1 year later. The patients were identified from the French public health surveillance network by all ophthalmologists on the island. Medical data were collected directly from medical records. Twenty-eight patients were included. The mean age was 41.9 years. Ocular involvement occurred approximately 9.2 days after the onset of dengue symptoms. The main symptoms were scotoma (71.4%) and sudden decrease of visual acuity (39.2%). Eighteen patients (64.2%) had macular involvement. Fourteen patients were treated with oral or intravenous corticosteroids. Twenty-two (78.5%) patients were evaluated by telephone one year later. Scotoma and decreased visual acuity persisted in 15 patients. Thirteen patients (59%) were bothered by night driving, 32% of patients had reading difficulties and 27% of patients became sensitive to prolonged exposure to screens. Ocular complications of dengue require early and collegial management to limit the risk of long-term sequelae. Further studies on the characteristics and complications of dengue fever are needed to better understand this disease.