Parallel and Concurrent Infection of Dengue Virus and Plasmodium falciparum among Patients with Febrile Illnesses Attending Bingham University Health Centre, Karu, Nigeria

Aims: This study was conducted to determine the parallel and concurrent infection of dengue virus and Plasmodium falciparum among patients with febrile illnesses attending Bingham University Health Centre, Karu, Nigeria.

Study Design: The study was a cross sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Department of Microbiology, Nasarawa State University, Keffi and 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Yaba-Lagos, between February and July 2017.

Methodology: Blood samples were collected from 400 patients with febrile illnesses at the University Health Centre. The resulting sera was screened for dengue virus seromarkers (IgM, IgG and NS1) using Aria Dou dengue virus RDT kits (CTK Biotech, Inc, San Diego, USA) while malaria parasitemia was detected by Giemsa stained thick and thin film microscopy. Data collected were analysed using Smith’s Statistical Package (version 2.8, California, USA) and P value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Of the 400 patients screened, 12(3.0%) were positive for dengue virus, 20(5.0%) for malaria parasite while 10(2.5%) for dengue/malaria co-infection. Infection with dengue virus and malaria parasite was found to be higher among female subjects aged ≤30 years. However, age and gender were not significantly associated with both infections in this study (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: Our findings confirmed the presence of dengue virus infection in the study area which probably may have been misdiagnosed and mistreated. Hence, differential diagnosis of febrile illnesses should not only be limited to malaria and typhoid as is always the case in our health care centres.