Lab Based surveillance of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever during 2006 Epidemic in Lahore

Abstract

Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) is an acute viral disease which is worldwide in distribution. It is caused by four serotypes of Dengue viruses, members of falaviviruses, which are immunologically distinct and does not provide cross protectivity. A lab based surveillance was started on the indication of disease occurrence in Lahore. This epidemic investigation comprises 395 suspected DHF patients with IgG and IgM captured ELISA against Dengue virus 2 and serotype, Lab based data derived from the provincial referral Lab present in a public hospital of Lahore. Among the suspected patients 65.2% (n=257) were male and 34.8% (n=137) were female. There were 38.2% (n=151) patients non-reactive while 28.4% (n=112) were exposed to Dengue virus and 33.4%(n=132) were confirmed dengue patients. It was noted that epidemic started from mid of august and get terminated in the mid of January while the secular trends show that most of (60-70%) cases occur in November as per recorded.