Asia’s “twindemic”: dengue fever cases rocket as covid-19 rages on

Abstract

With the covid-19 pandemic ongoing, a devastating rise in dengue fever cases is putting severe pressure on Asia's health systems, reports Sonia Sarkar Sonia Sarkar freelance journalistFor Khoa Tran Dang, July was a harrowing month. The government run hospital where he works was inundated with over 400 dengue fever patients-whose symptoms include septic shock, high fever, muscle pain, and bleeding gums-every day."It's a challenge for us to deal with the rush," says Tran, a lecturer at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, "Sometimes, we have to put extra beds in rooms and hallways to accommodate the patients."As of the first week of August 2022, Vietnam had already far exceeded the total number of dengue cases and deaths recorded the year before: 145 536 cases and 53 deaths compared with 70 944 and 22 in the whole of 2021. 1 Nationally, about 9000 people were admitted to hospital in the last week of June compared with fewer than 2000 at the same point last year, while there are triple the number of deaths.The surge comes as the country is still recording over 2500 covid-19 cases a day. Tran says that in July alone his hospital admitted over 100 patients with covid, 14 of whom were severely ill.

Effects of Recent Prior Dengue Infection on Risk and Severity of Subsequent SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Retrospective Cohort Study

“…Although prior history of endemic tropical infections, including dengue, was not associated with long-term symptoms following COVID-19 at 12-month follow-up [ 30 ], the relatively young age (mean age, 40 years) of the cohort may have been a protective factor, given that older adults are at higher risk of postacute sequelae following COVID-19 [ 26–29 ]. Our results suggesting increased risk of adverse COVID-19 outcomes following prior dengue infection are of public health significance, especially in less well-resourced health care systems that may struggle with the burden of health care utilization arising from acute and postacute sequelae following overlapping dengue and COVID-19 outbreaks [ 1 , 31 , 32 ].…”

“…As COVID-19 moves toward endemicity, surges in SARS-CoV-2 transmission can potentially overlap with seasonal epidemics of other infectious diseases, further increasing the burden on health care systems, particularly in less well-resourced low-and-middle-income countries. Dengue is an example; dengue epidemics occur seasonally in tropical regions where dengue is endemic and overlapping outbreaks of dengue and COVID-19 are well-described [ 1 , 2 ]. Double epidemics of dengue and COVID-19 were observed across multiple countries in tropical and subtropical Asia [ 1 , 2 ], resulting in significant strain on hospitals and health care systems.…”

“…Dengue is an example; dengue epidemics occur seasonally in tropical regions where dengue is endemic and overlapping outbreaks of dengue and COVID-19 are well-described [ 1 , 2 ]. Double epidemics of dengue and COVID-19 were observed across multiple countries in tropical and subtropical Asia [ 1 , 2 ], resulting in significant strain on hospitals and health care systems. Several studies at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic raised the possibility of synergistic interaction between dengue and COVID-19 epidemics [ 3 , 4 ]; however, discordant results have been reported.…”

SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies cross-react with dengue virus and enhance infection in-vitro and in-vivo

“…In 2021, prevalence of dengue has increased over three times in India (44,585 versus 193,245 cases), 19 times in Bangladesh (1,405 versus 28,429 cases), 2 times in Singapore (5,000 versus 11,000), over 1.8 times in Malaysia (87,000 versus 120,000 cases), and more than seven times (6,016 vs. 52,894 instances) in Pakistan. Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and the Philippines have also reported notable increase, while Brazil documented a surge in severe cases and fatalities predominantly impacting younger population under 20 years of age during the period of 2021-2022 [ [1], [2], [3], [4]]. DENV circulates as four serotypes (DENV 1-4) each containing multiple distinct genotypes.…”