Kinetics of lymphocyte subpopulations in dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome.

A kinetic study of lymphocyte subpopulations was performed in 61 dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) patients aged 8 months to 12 years and in 59 age-matched normal controls. There were 36 patients in grade 2 and 25 patients in grade 3 of the disease severity. The studies were performed on febrile stage, the day of subsidence of fever or shock stage, 3 subsequent days after subsidence of fever or shock, and once on the recovery stage (approximately 14-18 days after subsidence of fever or shock). The study revealed that the absolute total lymphocytes, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and HNK-1+ cells were decreased on febrile stage and their lowest values were noted on the first day of subsidence of fever or shock, while B1+ cells were in the normal range. Thereafter, all lymphocyte subpopulations were increased. The total lymphocytes, B1+ and CD8+ cells were rapidly increased and were above normal value on day 2 after subsidence of fever or shock (early convalescence), then gradually declined to the normal range. In contrast, CD3+, CD4+ and HNK-1+ cells were increased gradually and reached their normal values on day 2 after subsidence of fever or shock. The T4:T8 ratio began to reverse on the day of subsidence of fever or shock, reached its peak on day 2 after shock and returned to normal ratio rapidly thereafter. Thus, the absolute lymphopenia on the day of shock was due to the decrement or T cells (both CD4+ and CD8+ cells) and HNK-1+ cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)