A significant 87% of children admitted to hospitals from June to August 2023 across Bangladesh with dengue are infected with the DEN-2 strain. Additionally, the remaining 13% of children are affected by DEN-3.
The information was revealed in a study conducted by the Department of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute. On Saturday afternoon, Dr Md Jahangir Alam, who is the hospital's director and the lead researcher for this study, presented the report in the hospital's auditorium.
According to the researchers, 722 of the 1,039 children with dengue admitted to children's hospitals and institutes from June to August 2023 were included in pathological research.
The researchers collected blood and nasopharyngeal swabs from 104 of these children to identify the type of dengue virus and check for other viruses in the icddr,b laboratory.
Additionally, they gathered samples from 50 patients who showed dengue symptoms but did not test positive for dengue virus in NS-1 or IgM tests, and these samples were also analyzed in the icddr,b laboratory.
In the study, they found that out of 50 samples initially testing negative for dengue with NS-1 and IgM, 17 of them (34%) also tested negative in the RT-PCR test.
Among those without dengue, 19% had other viral infections like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. Among those with dengue, 12% also had other viral infections.
Genome sequencing tests revealed that 87% of the 113 dengue-positive samples were DEN-2, and 13% were DEN-3.
Among the children with DEN-2, 87% had genetic characteristics similar to the 2018’s DEN-2 strain. For the 13% with DEN-3, their genetic characteristics were akin to the 2017’s DEN-3 strain.
Prof Md Jahangir Alam said: "As part of the research, we are currently working on complete sequencing. We will provide more information when we have the results."