Hospital-based prevalence of malaria and dengue in febrile patients in Bangladesh.
We conducted a nationwide study at six tertiary hospitals from December 2008 through November 2009 to investigate etiologies of febrile illnesses in Bangladesh. Febrile patients meeting a clinical case definition were enrolled from inpatient and outpatient medicine and pediatric units. We assessed 720 febrile patients over 12 months; 69 (9.6%) were positive for IgM antibodies against dengue virus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and four malaria patients (0.56%) were confirmed with immuno-chromatography and microscopic slide tests. We identified dengue cases throughout the year from rural (49%) and urban areas (51%). We followed-up 55 accessible dengue-infected patients two months after their initial enrollment: 45 (82%) patients had fully recovered, 9 (16%) reported ongoing jaundice, fever and/or joint pain, and one died. Dengue infection is widespread across Bangladesh, but malaria is sufficiently uncommon that it should not be assumed as the cause of fever without laboratory confirmation.
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh. labibimran@yahoo.com
Labib I
LI
Faruque
Rashid Uz
RU
Zaman
A S M
AS
Alamgir
Emily S
ES
Gurley
Rashidul
R
Haque
Mahmudur
M
Rahman
Stephen P
SP
Luby
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003715:Dengue / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008288:Malaria / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D007075:Immunoglobulin M