Content area
Dengue fever is caused by four common serotypes of the dengue virus (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4). Patients infected with one serotype may develop lifelong serotype-specific protective immunity. However, they remain susceptible to reinfection with the other serotypes, often increasing the risk of severe forms of dengue. This cross-sectional study investigates the prevalence of the four dengue serotypes in patients who presented with dengue fever at Makkah hospitals between April 2023 and May 2024. Data were collected from the medical records of the Regional Laboratory in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The 238 positive dengue samples included 185 samples (77.73%) from male patients. The average age of the patients was 37.65 years (SD = 15.05). Dengue type 2 was the most common serotype, followed by type 1, type 3, and type 4. Most of the dengue patients were Saudi nationals, followed by Egyptians. There were 11 dengue-positive samples that were not diagnosed with any of the four dengue serotypes. Since Makkah receives numerous international travelers, these samples might contain novel dengue serotypes circulating in different parts of the world. This study underscores the need for the continuous monitoring of dengue serotypes to predict potential outbreaks and mitigate the risk of severe dengue in susceptible populations.
Details
; Hafiz, Abdul 2
; Natto, Hatim A 3
; Mohamed Osman Elamin 4
; Jalal, Naif A 2
; Hakim, Ashwaq 1
; Rushan, Safiah 5 ; Othman Fallatah 5 ; Alzabeedi, Kamal 6 ; Malibari, Feras 7 ; Mashat, Hutaf 1 ; Alsaadi, Aisha 1
; Alhakam, Amani 1 ; Hadidi, Anoud 1
; Ghazi Saad Alkhaldi 8 ; Alkhyami, Ahmed 5 ; Alqarni, Ali 5
; Alzahrani, Abdulaziz 5
; Alghamdi, Mohammed 5 ; Siddiqi, Abdullah 9 ; Alasmari, Abdullah 10 ; Bakri, Rowaida 2
; Alqahtani, Saleh 10 ; Al-Bajaly, Juman M 10 ; Khogeer, Asim 11
1 Department of Molecular Biology, The Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
2 Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Public Health & Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
4 Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Public Health and Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
5 Department of Serology, The Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
6 Departments of Medical Research, Clinical Biochemistry, The Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
7 Epidemiology and Infection Control, Saudi German Hospital, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
8 Department of Immunology, The Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
9 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Makkah Park Clinics, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
10 Department of Research, PMO, Ministry Branch in Makkah Region, Ministry of Health (MOH), Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;
11 Department of Research, PMO, Ministry Branch in Makkah Region, Ministry of Health (MOH), Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia;