A retrospective serological study of Japanese who contracted dengue fever in Thailand.

Between September and November 1981, some members of a survey team from Japan suffered from a febrile illness diagnosed clinically as dengue fever during their stay in a village in Khon-Kaen Province, in the north-eastern part of Thailand. The morbidity rate in the team was as high as 69% (11/16). Blood samples were taken from 12 of the 16 members of the team in February, 1982 in Japan and the serum specimens were examined for antibodies to dengue (DEN), Japanese encephalitis (JE) and yellow fever (YF) viruses respectively. The results of the tests indicated that all 8 members who had had symptoms had been infected with DEN type 1 virus. No case of inapparent infection with dengue viruses was found. Of these 8 persons, seven had had neutralizing (N) antibody to JE virus before infection, but their clinical manifestations had been similar to those of an individual without N antibody to JE virus and were typical symptoms of dengue fever, such as leukopenia and "saddle-back" fever, without hemorrhagic manifestations, as seen from platelet counts and hematocrit values.