The Prevalence of Dengue Viral Infection among Children with Febrile Illness Attending Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano, Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: The Dengue virus infection is one of the major global public health problems caused by one of the four dengue virus (DENV) serotypes that are transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The infection usually occurs with clinical manifestations, ranging from an asymptomatic or mild febrile illness as classical dengue fever to a potentially life-threatening illness, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome.
Objective: The main aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of Dengue viral infection among children with febrile illnesses attending Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano. Methods: A total of 88 samples were collected from Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano from July 2019 to September 2019. Results: A
total of 88 febrile patients attending Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital Kano were recruited in this study. The result shows that 9.1% (8) of the study subject had dengue virus NS1antigen of which individuals aged range 1-4 years has the highest frequency of dengue virus infection 75% (6) and male subject with the highest frequency of 63% (5). The relationship between DENV infections and the existence of stagnant water around housing and participation of children in outdoor games was statistically significant (P-value = 0.032 and 0.048, respectively) but there was no significant association between DENV seropositivity with uncovered water containers, construction sites, garbage collection sites, mosquito net and garbage disposal frequency (P values = 0.806, 0.242, 0.922, 0.392, 0.323 respectively). Conclusion: This study concluded that some acute fever cases among febrile patients in Kano which are misdiagnosed or treated as malaria were due to DENV infection and children aged less than 5 years were found to be more vulnerable to dengue infection and had a greater risk of becoming infected. The study also found out that the presence of stagnant water around housing and the participation of children in outdoor games increase the risk of infection with dengue virus. This information is beneficial for avoiding infection by the dengue virus.