Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to obtain clinical, virological and demographic data detailing the 2016 dengue outbreak in Nepal.

Results

Dengue disease was first reported in Nepal in 2004 and several major outbreaks have occurred since then, with a significant impact on public health. An outbreak of dengue fever occurred in Nepal during June to November 2016, with a peak number of cases reported in September. 1473 patients with laboratory confirmed DENV infections visited or were admitted to hospitals during this period. The most common clinical symptoms included fever, headache, joint pain and thrombocytopenia. Serotyping of 75 serum samples from patients having fever for less than 4 days was carried out with a dengue virus (DENV) serotype-specific RT-PCR strategy. Our results indicate that the dengue outbreak in Nepal during 2016 was caused predominantly, if not exclusively, by DENV-1, representing a shift in the prevailing serotype from DENV-2, the dominant serotype characterizing the 2013 dengue epidemic in Nepal. Hopefully, this report will assist Nepalese public health agencies in developing improved dengue-related programs including mosquito-vector control, DENV surveillance, and diagnosis and treatment of dengue fever patients, in order to reduce the impact of future dengue epidemics.

Details

Title
Profile of the 2016 dengue outbreak in Nepal
Author
Ramawatar Prasad Khetan; Stein, David A; Chaudhary, Santosh Kumar; Rauniyar, Ramanuj; Bishnu Prasad Upadhyay; Umesh Prasad Gupta; Birendra Prasad Gupta
Pages
1-6
Section
Research note
Publication year
2018
Publication date
2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
17560500
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-018-3514-3
ProQuest document ID
2071820906
Copyright
© 2018. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.