Seropositivity among Blood Samples Drawn from Suspected Dengue Cases at a Tertiary Care Centre of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: The cases of dengue fever have been reported more frequently in Nepal these days. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of seropositivity among blood samples drawn from suspected dengue cases at a tertiary care centre of Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital from 1st June 2017 to 31st October 2018 after getting approval from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 23/2016). A total of 537 suspected dengue patients were selected for the study using convenience sampling. These dengue positive sera were assayed for their reactivity with Immunoglobulin M and Immunoglobulin G present in sera and synthetic peptides of dengue virus by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Data was entered and analysed in Microsoft Excel 2016. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Results: Among 537 suspected dengue cases, the seropositivity for dengue was found in 124 (23.09%) (19.52-26.65 at 95% Confidence Interval) of the serum. Conclusions: The present study revealed that dengue was more prevalent in our setting compared to similar studies. All the synthetic peptides showed reactivity with dengue-positive sera with maximum reactivity shown by RR2 peptide. In dengue-positive sera, RR2 peptide of dengue virus identified more Immunoglobulin M than Immunoglobulin G.