Brain tumor masquerading as dengue in a three-year-old boy

Abstract

Paediatric gliomas represent the most common brain tumour in children. Early diagnosis and treatment greatly improve survival. Paediatric gliomas depend on pathways and genes responsible for mitotic activity and cell proliferation as well as angiogenesis (mitogen-activated protein kinases, vascular endothelial growth factor, epidermal growth factor pathways). Symptoms seen as persistent headaches, behavior changes, early morning nausea, emesis, diplopia, and papilledema. Patients may also present with more specific localizing symptoms such as focal motor deficits, hemiplegia, pyramidal tract findings, dysmetria, and chorea; depending upon the tumor’s location can facilitate diagnosis, but they are not always present and therefore diagnosis is occasionally delayed. Here we report a case of a boy hailing from lower socioeconomic status with history of abdominal pain, irritability, fever and cough initially mimicking clinical features and symptoms of dengue encephalitis but subsequent deterioration of patient though on medication and review with MRI suggestive of a glioma.