Molecular Characteristic of Dengue Virus against its Outbreak response of Red Sea State, Eastern Sudan - 2020

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever is ranked by the World Health Organization as the most critical mosquito-borne viral disease, globally. More than 40% of the world’s population, in more than 100 countries are at risk of dengue infection. AIM: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of dengue virus (DENV) genotypes and serotypes during disease outbreak 2020 in Port Sudan State, eastern Sudan. METHODS: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Eastern Sudan (Port Sudan state). Three hundred and eighty serum samples were collected from febrile patients including any individual aged ≥5 years old and excluded all patients suffering from Tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis was excluded and those who have a history of travailing to an endemic area within the past 2 weeks. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays were used to amplify a fragment of the viral polyprotein gene. The PCR products of the amplified viral polyprotein gene were purified, and partial sequences were generated and used to confirm the specificity of DENV sequences and to identify the virus serotype. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 23.0). RESULTS: Infection was confirmed in 27.9% in 106 samples out of 380 sampled sera, using DENVenzyme-linked immunoassay assay. The detection of DENV RNA was made possible using group-specific RT-PCR assay. The virus was DENV serotype 3 (DENV-3) serotype-specific RT-PCR assay. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that DENV-3 of DENV is circulating and we did not detected DEN-1, 2 and DEN-4 in outbreak in eastern Sudan during the year 2020.