title: Outbreak investigation of fever mimicking dengue in Havelock Island, an important tourist destination in the Andaman & Nicobar Archipelago, 2014.
abstract: An upsurge of fever cases of unknown origin, but resembling dengue and leptospirosis was reported in Havelock, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, an important tourism spot, during May 2014. Investigations were carried out to determine the aetiology, and to describe the epidemiology of the outbreak. The data on fever cases attending Primary Health Centre (PHC), Havelock showed that the average number of cases reporting per week over the last 2 years was 46·1 (95% confidence interval 19·4-72·9). A total of 27 (43·5%) patients out of the 62 suspected cases were diagnosed as having DENV infection based on a positive enzyme immunoassay or reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The overall attack rate was 9·4 cases/1000 population and it ranged between 2·8 and 18·8/1000 in different villages. The nucleotide sequencing showed that the virus responsible was DENV-3. DENV-3 was first detected in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in 2013 among wharf workers in Port Blair and within a year it has spread to Havelock Island which is separated from South Andaman by 36 nautical miles.
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kartick
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: G S J
authors.initials: GSJ
authors.lastname: Bharathi
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Surya
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anwesh
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arun
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Muruganandam
authors.affiliation: Directorate of Health Services,Andaman and Nicobar Administration,Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Avijit
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research),Port Blair,Andaman & Nicobar Islands,India.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vijayachari
mesh_terms: D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
keywords: DENV-3; Dengue; Havelock Island; South Andaman; outbreak