Postmortem Diagnosis of Dengue as an Epidemiological Surveillance Tool

Luciano Pamplona de Góes Cavalcanti Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Deborah Nunes de Melo Braga Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Lívia Maria Alexandre da Silva Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Marina Gondim Aguiar Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Mariana Castiglioni Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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José Udevanier Silva-Junior Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Fernanda Montenegro de Carvalho Araújo Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Renata Allana da Costa Pereira Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Danielle Lima Malta Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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Margarida Maria de Lima Pompeu Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Brazil; Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.15-0392
Volume/Issue:
Volume 94: Issue 1
Page(s):
187–192
Restricted access
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Dengue remains a problem in Brazil, and a substantial number of cases that progress to death are not diagnosed by health services. We evaluated the impact of a protocol adopted by the Coroner's Office Rocha Furtado (CO-RF) for the detection of unreported deaths from dengue in Brazil. We evaluated prospectively cases of deaths referred to the CO-RF with suspicion of dengue and those referred with other diagnosis in which the pathologists suspected dengue as the cause of death. Biological material was collected from all bodies autopsied, for which the suspected cause of death was dengue, between January 2011 and December 2012. Of the 214 bodies autopsied, 134 (62.6%) tested positive for dengue; of these cases, 121 were classified as dengue according to the World Health Organization's case definition (1997 or 2009, as appropriate). Thus, CO-RF detected 90 deaths from dengue, which were not suspected during disease progression. This CO-RF protocol, through a combined effort of the surveillance and laboratory teams, increased the detection of fatal dengue cases by 5-fold. This is the largest series of autopsies performed in cases of death related to dengue in the world to date.

Author Notes

* Address correspondence to Luciano Pamplona de Góes Cavalcanti, Departamento de Saúde Comunitária da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Rua Professor Costa Mendes, 1608 – Bloco Didático – 5° andar – Rodolfo Teófilo – Fortaleza, Ceará, Brasil. CEP 60.430-140. E-mail: pamplona.luciano@gmail.com

Financial support: This study was supported by the Ceará State Foundation for Research Support (FUNCAP) through notice PPSUS-NETWORK-MS/CNPq/FUNCAP/HS 03/2012 and University Center Christus (UNICHRISTUS) scholarships by SI of the medical school.

Authors' addresses: Luciano Pamplona de Góes Cavalcanti, Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil, E-mail: pamplona.luciano@gmail.com. Deborah Braga, Departmento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil, E-mail: deborahnmb@gmail.com. Livia Alexandre, Marina Aguiar, and Mariana Castiglioni, Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, Brazil, E-mails: livinhalexandre@hotmail.com, ina_aguiar@hotmail.com, and marianacastglioni@gmail.com. José Udevanier Silva-Junior and Renata Allana, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil, E-mails: udevanier_reboucas@hotmail.com and renata.allana1@gmail.com. Fernanda Araújo, Central Public Health Laboratory, Department of Health of Ceará State, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, E-mail: fernanda.montenegro@lacen.ce.gov.br. Daniele Lima Malta, Curso de Medicina, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil, E-mail: danimalta37@gmail.com. Margarida Lima Pompeu, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Patologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departmento de Patologia, Fortaleza, Brazil, E-mail: margarida.pompeu@gmail.com.

Copyright:
© The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2016
Received:
26 May 2015
|
Accepted:
07 Oct 2015
|
Published Online:
06 Jan 2016
Cover The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Print ISSN:
0002-9637
Online ISSN:
1476-1645
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