Prevalence of Dengue Virus Infection Among Febrile Outpatients Attending University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Borno State, Nigeria

Dengue fever is a zoonotic arthropod-borne viral disease caused by Dengue fever virus (DENV) of the Genus Flavivirus and the FamilyFlaviviridaethat is endemic in Africa and beyond. The illness could be fatal especially among children and depleted patients.This study was designed to diagnose recentDengue virus infectionsamong febrile patients attending University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital using ELISA kits for the detection of DENV IgM antibodies and NS1 antigens. Ninety one (91) venous blood samples were randomly collected from patients attending Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for malaria test between January and May, 2016. The samples were analysed using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays for dengue virus IgM antibodies (manufactured by Inverness Innovations Australia Pty Ltd ) and for Dengue virus NS1antigens (manufactured by Bio-Rad, France). The results showed a prevalence rate of 37.4% for DENV IgM antibodies and 9.9% for DENV NS1 antigens, with 3.3% of the subjects testingpositive for both IgM and NS1 antigen. Females were observed to have higher IgM prevalence rate of 41% and males showed higher NS1 antigen prevalence rate of 11.1%. The highest prevalence rate of 76.9% was recorded for IgM in the age bracket of 1-14 years. Samples from urban areas have the highest IgM antibodyprevalence rate of 41.4%, however, rural dwellers have the highest NS1 antigen prevalence rate of 11.3%. The presenting complaint with the highest IgM prevalence rate of 50% was headache + fever + nausea, while headache only had the highest NS1 antigen of 22.2%. The highest prevalence rate of 47.4% for IgM and 50% for NS1 antigen were recorded in March and May, 2016 respectively. This study therefore showed a high prevalence of IgM to Dengue fever virus indicating its circulation among febrile patients attending University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. Due to the probable misdiagnosis and subsequent treatment of dengue fever with other diseases such as malaria, dengue fever is shown to be prevalent in the study area. It is therefore recommended that febrile patients attending Maiduguri Teaching Hospital should be tested for dengue fever virus.