We enrolled 127 children who were clinically and serologically
diagnosed as dengue virus infected. Of these, 59
were males and 68 females. Age distribution varied from
1 year to 15 years with a mean age of 7.6 ± 3.6 years. Concerning
disease severity, 49 were classified as a non-shock
group i.e. DF (19), DHF grade I (8) and DHF grade II (22),
whereas 78 were classified as a shock group i.e. DHF grade
III (68) and DHF grade IV (10). The incidence of abnormal
AST and ALT levels (AST and ALT > 38 U/L) were 97.4% and
50.0% in the shock group, and 91.8% and 44.9% in the nonshock
group respectively. There was no significant difference
in serum aminotransferases at cutoff level of >
38 U/L between groups. Twenty-nine percent and 15.4% of
the patients in the shock group and only 10.2% and 4.1% in
the non-shock group had the respective AST and ALT levels
> 200 U/L. There was significant difference in serum
aminotransferases at cutoff level of > 200 U/L between
groups (P < 0.05). Abnormal AST and ALT levels classified
by severity of dengue infection are shown in Tables 1 and
2. Serum aminotransferase levels were significantly higher
in the shock group when compared to the non-shock
group. Concerning sequential changes of aminotransferases,
AST tended to increase starting from one day before
shock and was continuously increasing up to 3 days after
shock whereas ALT was less likely to be affected