Introduction: Dengue fever is an emerging mosquito borne disease in Nepal claiming substantial morbidity and mortality. The objective of the study was to fi nd out frequency of acute dengue infection in patients from the hospitals of the western Nepal.
Methods: The study was conducted between August 2007 and July 2008 in patients visiting hospitals of the western terai of Nepal with chief complains of fever. The sero-diagnosis of acute dengue infection was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay among 239 patients visiting Lumbini Zonal Hospital, Butwal; Bheri Zonal Hospital, Nepalgunj; Bardiya District Hospital, Bardiya and Mahakali Zonal Hospital, Mahendranagar.
Results: The anti-dengue IgM positivity was 29.3 %. There was slight male preponderance with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Out of the total positive cases, the highest positive cases (75.7 %) were from the age group 15 - 50 years followed by < 15 years old (15.7 %). Out of four hospitals, the highest positive cases (54.3 %) were in Lumbini Zonal Hospital, Butwal. The age and gender were independent predictors to dengue virus infection. The highest numbers of dengue positive cases were in October (52.6 %). The association between dengue disease and the month was statistically significant.
Conclusions: The dengue positivity was estimated in acute patients from hospitals of western Nepal by enzyme immunoassay. Therefore, the serological marker can be used to diagnose acute patients of dengue during outbreaks.
Keywords: dengue, ELISA, post monsoon, sero-diagnosis
Background: Dengue Virus (DV) is an emerging mosquito borne viral disease and important public health problem in low land of Terai region which is also expanding to hilly region. Methods: This study was designed to estimate sero-prevalence of dengue virus infection in the post monsoon period (Jun-Dec) of 2010 in Nepalese patients with fever visiting hospitals of Birganj, Damouli, Biratnagar and Dhading Besi. Serum samples were collected from 280 patients visiting hospitals with history of fever & clinically suspected dengue fever. The sero-prevalence of dengue virus specific IgM was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit (SD, Korea) Results: The anti-dengue IgM positivity was found to be 8.2%. The positive dengue cases were higher in male (10.5%) as compared to female (6.5%). Among different age groups, the highest positive cases (11.5 %) were from age group below 15 years followed by above 50 years age group with 8.5%. Out of 4 hospitals, the highest positive cases were in Tanahu District Hospital, Damouli (23.8%) followed by Koshi Zonal Hospital, Biratnagar (12.5%). Age and gender were found to be independent predictors. The highest numbers of dengue positive cases were in occupation group business (13.3%) followed by agriculture (11.5%). Conclusion: The dengue positivity was estimated in acute patients from different hospitals of Nepal by enzyme immunoassay and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Therefore, the serological marker can be used to diagnose the acute patients of dengue during outbreaks. Nepal Journal of Medical Sciences | Volume 02 | Number 01 | Jan-Jun 2013 | Page 20-25 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njms.v2i1.7646
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