A Narrative Review on Dengue and COVID-19 Co-infection: A Deadly Duo

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in dengue-endemic countries falls as a huge burden on healthcare infrastructure. Above everything, similar signs and symptoms of diseases caused by the two viruses make diagnosis and treatment more difficult. For this literature review, published articles from January 2020 to March 2023 available in the databases ‘PubMed’, ‘Google Scholar’ and ‘Embase’ have been explored to look at the similarities and differences between dengue and SARS-CoV-2 virus through the lens of genomics, epidemiology, clinical presentation and outcome of patients. The objectives of this study were to draw conclusions about the proposed pathophysiology of the viruses in case of a co-infection and to narrate evidence on outcome associated with the co-infection. Co-infection with dengue and COVID-19 virus can lead to moderate-to-severe morbid conditions; even the outcome could be fatal due to shock, multi-organ failure and stroke.