Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and Acute Compartment Syndrome

Dear Editor,

The recent report on dengue hemorrhagic fever and acute compartment syndrome is very interesting.[1] Indeed, dengue is an important mosquito borne infectious disease with common clinical manifestation as high fever with hemorrhagic syndrome. Some uncommon bleedings as gastrointestinal bleeding and heavy menstruation are also mentioned.[2] The internal bleeding can induce some unexpected sequelae such as compartment syndrome.[1] The intramuscular hematoma is classified as an uncommon but serious bleeding complication in dengue.[3] The hematoma can further, result in either abscess or compartment syndrome.[1,3] The important concern is the cause of the intramuscular hematoma. It rarely occurs spontaneously, but the intramuscular injection is usually the rooted cause.[3] Good history taking is required to verify the natural history of the indexed case. The practitioner should avoid unnecessary intramuscular injection in managing any case with high fever that can be suspicious dengue.