Zeitschrift für Infektionskrankheiten und Präventivmedizin
Offener Zugang
ISSN: 2329-8731
ISSN: 2329-8731
Senthil Raja Ramalingam Sathiyamurthy Karupannan, Padmapriya Padmanaban, Senthilkumar Vijayan, Khallefathullah Sheriff, Gunasekaran Palani1 and Kaveri Krishnasamy*
Aim: Dengue fever is the most important vector borne viral disease in many tropical and subtropical countries. In this study we have analyzed the molecular epidemiology of dengue in Tamil Nadu to improve understanding of the evolution for the past four years from June 2011 to June 2014, by testing Dengue outbreak samples from twenty districts of Tamil Nadu. The serum collected from suspected Dengue patients were analyzed for Dengue specific IgM antibodies by Mac IgM antibody capture enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using NIV kit and detection of NS1 antigen & IgG antibodies using Pan Bio kits. NS1 positive samples were subjected to Dengue serotyping by RT-PCR. World Health Organization case definition was adopted to categorize the Dengue cases. Results: The total number of samples screened during the period was 690, out of which 211 (79 Ns1 & 132 IgM) (30.58%) were positive for Dengue and RT-PCR results revealed that all the four Dengue serotypes were in circulation in different combinations during this study period. Re-emergence of Dengue 2 after nine years in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 2014 was a notable feature. Conclusion: Our analysis exhibited that in Tamil Nadu outbreaks occurred during monsoon and post monsoon season and most likely cause was by endemic virus strains that had been circulating in South East Asia for several years. In developing countries like India, public heath containment activities play a pivotal role in the control of outbreaks.