Prevalence of dengue virus in Paskistan during 2009-2014

초록

Dengue virus is the causative agent of dengue fever, a vector borne infection which causes self limiting to life threatening disease in patients. A sero-epidemiological study was conducted to understand the current situation of dengue virus in Pakistan. Pakistan is considered a dengue endemic country in which incidence of dengue cases were increased after 1994. To investigate the prevalence of dengue virus in Pakistan during 2009-2014, a total of 9,493 blood samples were tested for the detection of IgM antibodies against dengue virus with ELISA and medical records from different hospitals were reviewed to report dengue related deaths. Out of 9,493 samples tested, 37% (3,504) were found positive for dengue IgM antibodies. Of the sero-positive cases, 73.6% (2,578/3,504) were male and 26.4% (926/3,504) were female. The highest number of sero-positive cases was shown in the age group of 31-40, 41.1% (382/929). The highest number of symptomatic cases was reported in October (46%, 4,400/9,493), but the highest number of sero-positive cases among symptomatic cases was in November (45.7%, 806/1,764). Mean annual patient incidence (API) during 2009-2014 in Pakistan was 0.30, Islamabad (11.03) showing the highest API. According to the hospitals records, 472 dengue related deaths have been reported during 2009-2014. Although some previously published reports from Pakistan, described the dengue virus incidence from limited areas of the country, this is the first report that describes the prevalence of dengue virus infection at a national level, which highlights serious deficiencies in the dengue vector surveillance and control programs.