Abstract
Dengue fever is known to be one of the most common arthropod-borne viral infectious diseases of public health importance. The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific with an estimated two fifths of the world's population being at risk. The notable endemic viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) found in West Africa, including yellow fever, Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, dengue fever and until recently Ebola have been responsible for most outbreaks with fatal consequences. These VHFs usually produce unclear acute febrile illness, especially in the acute phase of infection. In this study we detected the presence of 2 different serotypes (DENV-2 and DENV-3) of Dengue virus in 4 sera of 150 patients clinically suspected of Ebola virus disease during the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa with the use of serological and molecular test assays. Sequence data was successfully generated for DENV-3 and phylogenetic analysis of the envelope gene showed that the DENV-3 sequences had close homology with DENV-3 sequences from Senegal and India. This study documents molecular evidence of an indigenous Dengue fever viral infection in Ghana and therefore necessitates the need to have an efficient surveillance system to rapidly detect and control the dissemination of the different serotypes in the population which has the potential to cause outbreaks of dengue hemorrhagic fevers.
Highlights
Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), which refer to a group of illnesses that are caused by viruses within a distinct group of families, are well known for their characteristic overall vascular system damage and the impairment of the body’s ability to regulate itself [1]
They were tested for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and other VHFs including Marburg, Lassa fever, yellow fever and West Nile by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
RNA was detected in 4 out of the 32 Dengue virus (DENV) IgM positive samples. They were characterized as 1 DENV-2 and 3 DENV-3 serotypes
Summary
Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), which refer to a group of illnesses that are caused by viruses within a distinct group of families, are well known for their characteristic overall vascular system damage and the impairment of the body’s ability to regulate itself [1]. Symptoms presented by VHF-related illnesses are often accompanied by hemorrhage which in itself is rarely. Dengue fever virus in suspected Ebola patients in Ghana. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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