Is dengue emerging as important cause of acute liver failure in endemic regions?

Table 2 Differential diagnosis in cases presenting with fever and acute hepatic failure[12]

	Acute viral hepatitis	Complicated malaria	Leptospirosis	Dengue associated ALF
High grade fever	Absent	Present	Present	Present
Haematocrit	Normal	Normal	Falls	Raised
Platelet	Normal	Decreased	Normal	Decreased
SGOT	Raised	Normal	Normal	Raised
SGPT	Raised	Normal	Normal	Raised
SGOT/SGPT	Raised	Normal	Normal	Markedly raised
Hypoalbuminemia	Not seen in acute viral hepatitis may be seen in acute on chronic cases	Absent	Absent	Present especially in DHF due to plasma leakage[11]
Renal function test	Deranged	Normal	Normal	Deranged in DHF and DSS due to hypotension
Plasma leak	Absent	Rare	absent	Present
Peripheral smear	-	Malaria Parasite	-	-