Prevalence of All Four Dengue Virus Serotypes Confirmed By Using Real Time RT-PCR among Population of Lahore Pakistan

Abstract

Dengue fever is an emerging disease in Pakistan with uninterrupted increase in number of cases since 2006 Dengue fever epidemic in Lahore Pakistan. This study was planed to identify serotypes of dengue virus (DENV) involved in epidemic of 2008. The patients were screened in the microbiology laboratory with immunochromatographic kits then confirmed by antibody capture Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Real Time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (Real Time RT-PCR) was performed by Real Time system to identify its serotype. Among analyzed 12 acute phase confirmed dengue patients, 50.74 % (n=7) were men and 49.26% (n=5) were women. Real Time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (Real Time RT-PCR) was performed by Real Time system to identify its serotype. Among analyzed 12 acute phase confirmed dengue patients, 58.33 % (n=7) were men and 41.66% (n=5) were women. On Real time RT-PCR, Dengue virus (DENV) was detected in 83.33 % (n=10) patients. Among them Serotype dengue-4 (DENV-4) was detected in 40% (n=4) patients, DENV-2 in 30% (n=3) patients, DENV-1 in 10% (n=1) and DENV-3 in 20% (n=2) patients. This reveals first time in Pakistan the presence of all four serotypes of dengue virus in Lahore, which desires vigilant monitoring by laboratory-based surveillance in order to foresee the nature of future epidemics.