Dengue Associated Demyelinating Disorders – A Report of 2 Cases

Dengue is a common viral infection worldwide, though its neurological manifestations are infrequent (2%-11% in recent years) and can be varied as the Dengue virus per se is a non-neurotropic virus. Neurological manifestations of Dengue usually result from multisystem dysfunction which may be secondary to vascular leak or it can be due to direct virus invasion (dengue encephalitis) or an immunological phenomenon which is triggered by dengue infection (demyelinating disorders). Here we present two cases of dengue fever associated demyelinating disorders in two pediatric patients aptly depicting the two spectra of the disease. One of them is a case of fatal acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalopathy (AHLE) in a 3-year-old girl, that developed severe neurological sequelae while the other one is a case of an Acute disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) in a 3-year-old boy who had recovered with timely immunomodulatory therapy and appropriate management.