A 3 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON SERODIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE DENGUE INFECTION IN PATIENTS ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN CHENNAI. (2009-2011)

Dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DFDHF) have become a serious public health problem in many parts of India in recent years. We report a retrospective analysis of the dengue positivity in the samples of suspected cases of dengue fever for three years period (2009 to 2011) at the Institute of Microbiology, Madras Medical College, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Patients older than 12 years were included in this study. Serum samples from 3009 suspected cases (1678 male and 1331 female) were obtained. Samples were subjected to IgM Capture ELISA. Platelet count was noted from every patient. Of the 3009 patients, 499 (16.58) were positive for dengue IgM antibody. Statistically significant increase of positive patients was noted during the year 2010 and 2011 when compared to 2009. There was a noticeable increased occurrence during the cooler months and during the monsoon and post-monsoon months. Significant proportion of patients (28.26) belong to the age group of 20 years. Decrease in platelet count (1, 00,000cellsml) was found to be significantly associated with dengue IgM positivity cases. The dengue IgM seropositivity among the suspected cases indicates active dengue virus infection. Platelet count can be used as a base line test for the diagnosis of acute dengue infections at a primary health care level. Continued surveillance and monitoring of vector control and disease prevalence is the want of the day to prevent morbidity and mortality due to dengue infection.