Abstract
Background: Dengue fever is a re-emerging public health threat in Ethiopia. Yet, little is known about the epidemiology and risk factors. In this study the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of dengue virus infection were assessed in Borena Zone health facilities.
Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to August, 2016. A total of 519 consecutive acute febrile patients attending the outpatient departments of Teltelle health Center, Yabello and Moyale Hospital were enrolled. Data on socio-demographic and environmental risk factors were collected using structured questionnaire. Three to five milliliter blood samples were collected from all participants and screened for dengue virus exposure using indirect immunofluorescent assay.
Result: The overall prevalence of anti-DENV IgG and IgM was 22.9% and 7.9% respectively. The relatively higher IgM versus IgG, absence of trend with age and little or no correlation with the assessed possible risk factors except being male (AOR=1.72; 95%CI 1.01-2.94), place of residence (AOR=0.37;95%CL 0.21-0.64) that had higher rate of exposure and recall of a recent mosquito bite (AOR=2.98; 95%CI 1.51-5.89) probably imply recent and/or ongoing active transmission.
Conclusion: This study showed dengue fever could potentially emerge as public health threat in the study area. On top, the observed low awareness of participants underline the urgent need for further systematic studies to determine the environmental, and host factors that determine the extent of exposure to dengue virus infection in the area for appropriate control and prevention planning.
A notorious vector-borne disease: Dengue fever, its evolution as public health threat