Serological Evidence of Acute Dengue Virus Infection among Febrile Patients Attending Plateau State Specialist Hospital Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

The serological evidence of acute dengue virus infection was assessed in 182 sera of subjects (78 (42.9%) Males and 104 (57.1%) Females), with febrile complaints attending the Plateau State Specialist Hospital Jos Nigeria. The age range of subjects in the study is 2-70 years, with mean (±SD) age of 31.8±14.3 years. A total of 4 subjects were positive for dengue NS1 antigen (DEN NS1), giving a prevalence rate of 2.2%. Three, 3(2.9%) females were positive, and 1 (1.3%) male was positive for DEN NS1, although there was no significant difference according to gender, meaning that dengue infection is not gender bias. Two of the 4 positive cases also had malaria presented with, while the other two had typhoid. All the positive subjects had complaints of fever and headache, indicating that when looking for dengue virus infection, suspected patients with malaria and typhoid are the likely suspects to be considered. The four seropositive subjects were aged 11 to 40 years. The cases occurred in the months of May and August which corresponds to the breeding periods of the Mosquito (Aedes species) vectors for dengue.