title: Dengue disease status in Chennai (2006-2008): a retrospective analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dengue is one of the most important Arboviral diseases in man with outbreaks in Southeast Asia and India. We report a retrospective analysis of the dengue positivity in the referred samples for three years period (2006 to 2008) at the Department of Virology, King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum samples from 1593 suspected cases (968 male and 625 female) were obtained. Of the 1593 cases screened, 1204 (75.5%) were paediatric cases and 389 (24.4%) adults. The samples were subjected to MAC ELISA and IgG ELISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 968 patients, 686 (43.0%) were positive, of which 579 (84.0%) were in the paediatric age group (<14 yr) and 107 (15.5%) were adults. The IgM positivity being 356 (36.7%) in males and 330 (52.8%) in females. Of the 686 positives, 113 (16.47%) were positive for both IgM and IgG denoting secondary infection. There was a noticeable increased occurrence during the cooler months and during the monsoon and post-monsoon months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dengue IgM seropositivity among the suspected cases indicates active dengue virus activity. Increase in the probable secondary infections especially in a country like ours where multiple serotypes are prevalent raises concern over probable increase in the incidence of the more serious DHF/DSS. Studies need to be done to identify circulating serotypes of dengue virus to design preventive strategies.
authors: Department of Virology, King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Chennai, India.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Gunasekaran
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Kaveri
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Mohana
authors: Kavita
authors: K
authors: Arunagiri
authors: B V Suresh
authors: BV
authors: Babu
authors: P Padma
authors: PP
authors: Priya
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Kiruba
authors: V Senthil
authors: VS
authors: Kumar
authors: A Khaleefathullah
authors: AK
authors: Sheriff
mesh_terms: D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M