Comparison of severity signs between patients with primary and secondary dengue infection during the 2016 Burkina Faso (West Africa) outbreak.

Abstract Background The factors that expose the severity of dengue are still controversial, particularly the relationship between severe dengue and secondary dengue. More importantly, the severity of dengue infection remains poorly studied in Africa. The objective of this study was to compare severity signs between patients with primary and secondary dengue infection during the 2016 dengue outbreak in Burkina Faso. Methods This was a cross-sectional study through a retrospective examination of patient medical records managed in Ouagadougou for dengue fever from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017. All health facilities with the capacity to perform dengue diagnosis in Ouagadougou were considered in the survey. Primary dengue was defined as the presence of AgNS1 and/or IgM and secondary dengue as the presence of IgG associated with one of these two markers. Patients with only IgG were excluded. Univariate and multivariable analyzes were performed using a logistic regression with dengue infection (primary or secondary dengue) as the binary dependent variable. The statistical significant level was set at 0.05. Results Of the 811 patients managed for dengue fever during the study period, 418 (51.5%) were male. Thirty-five patients (4.3%) had primary dengue infection (AgNS1 + and / or IgM + with negative IgG) and seven hundred seventy-six (776) patients (95.7%) had secondary dengue infection. 245 patients (30.2%) experienced severe signs. Renal failure (13.1%) was the main sign of severity, followed by severe bleeding (10.6%). In univariate analysis, severe bleeding were associated with primary dengue infection (OR = 2.65, 95%IC: 1.16 -6.03, p = 0.01). Twenty-four deaths (9.8%) were reported during the period. Conclusion Signs of gravity can occur during primary dengue fever. This study highlight the need to conduct more studies on the severity factors of dengue fever.