Humoral immune response of dengue hemorrhagic fever cases in children from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The humoral immune response in Honduran dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) hospitalized pediatric cases from the epidemics of 2004 and 2005 was studied in sera collected from 5 to 7 days of fever onset. A total of 145 cases were included in the study: 40 classified as primary with DHF Grade I or II and 86 classified as secondary; from them, 73 were DHF Grade I or II and 13 were dengue shock syndrome (DSS) Grade III or IV. The highest number of primary cases was found in children < 1 year of age. The highest number of secondary cases was observed in children between 5 and 10 years of age. The IgA values showed a statistically significant difference between primary and secondary groups. The relationship between antibody responses and severity grade is discussed. This is the first study related to the humoral immune response and severity grade in DHF cases in Honduran children.