Case report: Postdengue chronic fatigue syndrome in an adolescent boy, 2021, Thadchanamoorthy and Dayasir

Abstract

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is often preceded by a viral illness and has recurrent ‘flulike’ symptoms which include a wide spectrum of musculoskeletal and neurological clinical features. The condition is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and systemic exertional intolerance syndrome. CFS has been reported following dengue among adult patients. We report the case of an 11-year-old boy who developed CFS following recovery of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). The reported child was initially managed as for DHF and was clinically asymptomatic on post-discharge day 3. He was re-admitted after 3 weeks with severe joint pains, myalgia and unbearable headache. As his symptoms persisted, he was investigated in-depth. All investigations were normal except mild elevation of liver functions. The diagnosis of CFS secondary to DHF was made by exclusion of differential diagnosis. At 1-year follow-up, patient continues to have symptoms after treatment with physiotherapy and nutrition counselling.

Paywall, https://casereports.bmj.com/content/14/6/e238605

 

Available on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profil...nic-fatigue-syndrome-in-an-adolescent-boy.pdf

 

Oh no. They treated him with CBT/GET basically. They also insist ME is a diagnosis of exclusion, which isn't the modern view. (Nowadays, we use PEM as the cardinal symptom) They also use psychologizing language in the description of his symptoms, such as "Uninterested to talk to family members" instead of "Unable to talk to family members".

However, the case report shows that dengue is a potential cause of ME.

 

I don't know anything about dengue fever in any shape or form, but the reference to haemorrhagic fever makes me think the child must have lost a lot of blood. I wonder if he was tested for vitamin and mineral deficiencies and/or given a transfusion to make up for his loss of blood?