The magnitude and duration of viraemia in children admitted to the hospital with dengue was studied during a dengue 2 outbreak in French Polynesia in 1996–1997. Forty‐nine patients from whom at least 3 plasma samples were available were included in the study. Based on analysis of IgG‐ELISA and haemagglutination inhibition assay, 21 of these were primary and 28 were secondary infections. According to World Health Organization criteria, 42 were dengue fever and 7 were dengue haemorrhagic fever. Virus was detectable by reverse transcription‐PCR in all patients for at least the first 3 days of the onset of fever, but was never detected after the 6th day (mean duration = 4.4 days). Plasma virus titers ranged from 1.7–5.6 Log₁₀ TCID₅₀/ml. A significant difference was not observed in the magnitude and duration of viraemia in patients with primary versus secondary infections. The severity of the illness, however, was correlated with both criteria. J. Med. Virol. 60:432–438, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.