The dengue shock syndrome (DSS) is primarily a complication of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) among children in South East Asia. A case-control study was carried out at the children hospital no 1 (Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam) in May-July 2005, to identify the predictive factors of the DSS among 1-15 year patients with DHE Forty consecutive admitted cases and forty controls were studied. The associated features of DSS were the 7-12 year age group and the re-infection by the dengue virus. The vaccination against the Japanese encephalitis B was not associated statistically significantly with the shock syndrome. The clinical predictors of DSS gathered an abdominal tenderness, an hepatomegaly, a lethargy, a cold extremity presentation. DSS associated laboratory features were a value of hematocrit a 50% and a platelet cell count< or= 75,000/mm3.