Sero-Epidemiological Study of Dengue Virus in Some Hospitals of Nepal

Abstract

Dengue is an emerging mosquito-borne viral disease in the world and is the serious public health problem of Nepal. This study was designed to determine sero-epidemiology of dengue virus infection during the period (June-Nov) of 2010 among suspected patients with fever visiting Koshi Zonal Hospital (KZH), Biratnagar, Narayani sub-regional Hospital (NSH), Birgunj, Sukraraj Tropical and Infections Disease Hospital(STIDH), Kathmandu and Dhading District Hospital (DDH), Dhading beshi. The sero-prevalence of anti-dengue IgM antibody was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Among 271 serum samples tested, the anti-dengue IgMpositivity was 14.4%. Sero-positivity in male was 10.7% of total and that in female was3.7%. Among different age groups, the highest positive cases (11.8%) were from agegroup 15-50 years and found least among the age group above 50 years (0.4%). Out of 4different hospitals, the highest positive cases were from STIDH with 9.2% and the least positive cases were from DDH (0.4%). The distribution of dengue positive cases among different occupation group was highest in students (5.9%) having least positivity among others and labour groups (0.4%). RT-PCR showed 4.7% positivity of 21 samples tested. Key words: dengue fever, epidemiology, IgM Capture ELISA, RT-PCR.