Viral Causes of Acute Febrile Jaundice in Selected Provinces of Zambia
Abstract Background Following the yellow fever (YF) risk assessment conducted in 2013, Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO successfully implemented YF case based surveillance among the YF suspects in the high risk areas of Zambia. To date, none of the patients has been confirmed as a case of YF and the epidemiology of flavi-viruses has not been comprehensively investigated in Zambia. As YF may be hardly distinguished clinically from other febrile diseases, because early in the clinical course YF may appear similar to other diseases but YF will diverge clinically as the disease course progresses. This study was designed to investigate the viral causes of febrile jaundice among YF suspects in selected provinces of Zambia. Method We conducted a retrospective study on 93 archived serum samples previously collected from patients meeting a case definition of YF suspect from January 2014 to July 2015 presented in selected health facilities. Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, West Nile, pan Flavivirus, and Hepatitis A viruses were tested by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT_PCR) and Hepatitis B virus using PCR, while Hepatitis C and Hepatitis E viruses were tested by nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR). Samples were also tested for YF and dengue fever (DF) antibodies using in-house immunoglobulin M enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Ig M ELISA) and immunoglobulin M rapid test respectively. STATA version 12 was used for data analysis. Results Fourteen percent (13/93) of the serum samples were identified as YF IgM positive. None of the samples tested positive for DF IgM ELISA. All 93 serum samples tested negative for the flaviviruses by RT-PCR. However, 8.6% (8/93) showed acute Hepatitis A and 2/20 (10%) of pooled sera tested positive for HBV. The median age of patients with Hepatitis A was 9.5 years old and for those without evidence of HAV infection was 19 years old. Approximately 85 (91.4%) of patients had acute diseases of unknown origin. Conclusion The study revealed that YF IgM was prevalent among study participants. However, the causes of fever and jaundice in Zambia may include viral hepatitis and needs to be considered if flaviviral diseases are suspected.