Status of dengue: In a tertiary care rural hospital

Introduction: Depending upon the environmental conditions, serotype of the virus and the vector, the epidemiology of dengue is changing. The increase in number of cases and the mortality due to dengue fever had been reported by various workers. Therefore to know the status of these, we have planned to do retrospective study with an aim to find out the trends of dengue fever in our tertiary care rural hospital. Material methods: We have conducted a retrospective analysis of cases admitted or visited to our tertiary care hospital during last five years (2012-2016). A total of 16744serum sample sent to the laboratory for serological testing of dengue were enrolled in the study. The enrolled cases were from all age group, from both indoor and outdoor department. A data was analyzed for all positive cases. Patients were labeled as seropositiveonly when found to be positive for dengue NS1 antigen and/ or dengue IgM antibody. Such patient’s data was analyzed in the study. Results: A total of 16744 cases were analyzed, out of which 1157 (6.91%) were found to be positive by ICT and 1077(6.43%) by both EARLY NS1 Ag ELISA and IgM MAC ELISA for dengue during last five year (2012 to 2016). Out of total dengue positive by both ICT and ELISA, 615 (57.10%) were NS1 antigen positive,462 (42.90%) were IgM antibody positives. Retrospective analysis revealed that predominantly males (60.82%) were more affected than females (39.18%) and most affected age group was 1-20 yrs. Conclusion: In our tertiary care rural hospital, during the last 5 year the dengue suspected cases has been increased along with their seropositivity.