Seroprevalence of Dengue Fever among Febrile Patients Attending Kura General Hospital Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosqui¬to-borne viral disease with an estimated inci¬dence of millions of cases per years. The study was aimed to determine the seroprevalence of dengue fever among febrile patients attending Kura General Hospital Kano, Northern Nigeria. Five milliliter (5 ml) of blood samples were collected from a total of 137 subjects (male, n= 63 and female, n=74) of all ages presenting febrile conditions suggestive of malaria or related diseases for testing of malaria parasites and antibody detection against dengue virus from May, 2018 to October, 2018. Examination of blood samples for detection of malaria parasite was conducted with thick blood film using Giemsa Staining technique while dengue virus antigen was detected using Dengue virus IgM/IgG antibody ELISA kits. The result showed that 13 subjects out of 103 were positive for dengue virus fever which accounted for 9.4% of the tested samples. Highest incidence of dengue virus fever was recorded among subjects of 21 -40 years with total of 5 (3.6%) positive cases.On the basis of gender, 9 samples were men (6.5%) while females recorded only 4 positive samples (2.9%). From the result, 8 samples were infected for both malaria and dengue virus fever and this represents 5.8% of the total samples examined. No significant differences on the prevalence of dengue virus among age categories and sex of the subjects at p < 0.05. It is concluded that dengue virus fever is an emerging infection among the population in the study area.

Dengue and zika seropositivity, burden, endemicity, and cocirculation antibodies in Nigeria

“…In addition, 45.5%, 19.0%, and 5.4% of DENV seropositive, ZIKV seropositive, and DENV-ZIKV seropositive patients, respectively, were also positive for the malaria antigen. However, much lower seroprevalences have been reported elsewhere in Nigeria, most recently for dengue (34.7%, 9.4%, 10.1%, 18.0%) [ 8 , 9 , 15–25 ] and ZIKV (2.0%,12%) [ 6 , 7 , 10–12 , 26 ]. This confluence of heterogeneous findings could be explained by the common vector of transmission ( Aedes mosquito) [ 1–7 , 10–12 , 26–28 ] occurring in the three geographic areas simultaneously.…”

“…This is not far from the fact that ZIKV is transmitted sexually [ 1–5 , 8 , 12 , 26–28 ]. There is also the possibility of overcrowding of families in major urban cities in the three regions, leading to a high burden on social services [ 8 , 9 , 15–25 ], which in turn contributes to high rates of DENV and ZIKV arboviral infection transmissibility.…”

“…The reason for the marked DENV and ZIKV seropositive antibodies among malaria-positive and malaria-negative participants remains unclear. It is unknown in the present study whether the presence of DENV and ZIKV seropositive antibodies increases or reactivates malaria infection in the presence of the malaria parasite [ 15 , 16 , 29 , 37 ]. However, several studies have reported that concomitant or co-circulation of malaria and arboviruses may increase seroprevalence rates, especially in tropical and subtropical regions [ 4 , 19 , 20 ].…”