title: Seroprevalence of asymptomatic dengue infection in children in Lahore.
abstract: Dengue has become a global problem in past few decades, with half of the world's population at risk of infection. For some countries of Asia and Latin America, severe dengue is a major cause of serious illness and even death in children. Pakistan has been reported as a hyperendemic area for dengue infection. Our study aimed to find seroprevalence of past dengue infection in asymptomatic children of Lahore with no previous history of dengue infection. A total of 400 samples were collected from children aged 1-12 years in Lahore using random sampling. The inclusion criteria were children aged 1-12 years, who had no previous symptoms of dengue fever during their lives. Children with known immunodeficiency status or fever at the time of recruitment were excluded from the study. Commercially available ELISA kits were used to determine the IgG status in sera of children. The data obtained was entered and analysed using SPSS v. 20.0. The overall prevalence of asymptomatic dengue infection was found to be 25%. There was no statistically significant difference between prevalence of infection in male and female children. There was, however, a strong relationship between increasing age of the child and number of cases with infection, with low incidence in children aged ⩽5 years.
authors.affiliation: Pakistan Medical Research Council,National Health Research Complex,Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex,Lahore,Pakistan.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Mohsin
authors.affiliation: Pakistan Medical Research Council,National Health Research Complex,Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex,Lahore,Pakistan.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghafoor
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology,University of Punjab,Lahore,Pakistan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: Pakistan Medical Research Council,National Health Research Complex,Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex,Lahore,Pakistan.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghous
authors.affiliation: Pakistan Medical Research Council,National Health Research Complex,Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex,Lahore,Pakistan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aasim
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D058345:Asymptomatic Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
keywords: Asymptomatic; children; dengue; school aged; seroprevalence