Open AccessCo-existence of Malaria and Dengue: An Incidental Observation
Author(s) -
Bharat Singh,
Saurabh Jayant,
Ranjana Dehariya,
Chandra Pratap Singh Rathore,
Hariom Sharan,
Trupti Bajpai
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of clinical and diagnostic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2249-782X
pISSN - 0973-709X
DOI - 10.7860/jcdr/2021/49909.15085
Subject(s) - dengue fever , malaria , seroprevalence , medicine , serology , leptospirosis , tropical medicine , antibody , immunology , virology , pathology
Malaria and dengue are two most important arthropod borne diseases responsible for high morbidity and mortality across the globe. Both these communicable diseases have been a major threat to the public health not only in India but also in other tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Aim: To study the prevalence of Dengue and Malaria along with the cases of co-infection among the patients visiting a tertiary care hospital located in central India. Materials and Methods: The present prospective study was conducted for a period of two years from January 2019 to December 2020, in the serology section of the Department of Microbiology of a teaching tertiary care hospital. Three to five millilitres (mL) of venous blood samples from 1519 patients were tested for both dengue (NS1 antigen, IgM and IgG antibodies) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorebent Assay (ELISA) method and malaria peripheral smear and antigen by immunochromatographic method. All demographic parameters were simultaneously analysed. Statistical analysis was performed with the help of Chi-square test. Results: Out of 1519 blood samples tested, 267 (17.5%) samples were positive for dengue and six (0.39%) samples were positive for malaria. No case of co-infection was detected. Maximum dengue cases were detected during post monsoon period while malaria cases were detected in monsoon and post monsoon period. Among the various dengue positive cases, 185 (69.2%) patients were diagnosed with recent primary infection while 20 (7.49%) patients had primary infection. Conclusion: The present study concluded that seroprevalence of dengue was high in our geographical region with malaria being negligible. Present study incidentally recorded the fact that the two diseases may co-exist in an individual but both the vectors rarely share the same geographical site.