Thadchanamoorthy, Vijayakumary, Dayasiri, Kavinda · BMJ case reports · 2021 · DOI
This case report describes an 11-year-old boy who developed ME/CFS symptoms after recovering from dengue hemorrhagic fever. Three weeks after initially feeling better, he experienced severe joint pain, muscle aches, and headaches that persisted for at least a year despite physiotherapy and nutrition support. This case adds to growing evidence that ME/CFS can develop following viral infections, even in young people.
This case demonstrates that ME/CFS can develop in children and adolescents following specific viral infections like dengue, not just in adults. Understanding viral triggers helps clinicians recognize and diagnose ME/CFS earlier in young patients. It also highlights the need for better treatment strategies, as standard interventions did not resolve symptoms in this case.
This single case cannot establish the frequency or mechanisms of ME/CFS development after dengue infection. It does not prove that dengue causes ME/CFS in all or most infected individuals, nor does it identify what distinguishes those who develop ME/CFS from those who recover normally. The study cannot determine optimal treatment approaches or predict long-term outcomes across larger populations.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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