Prevalence and Circulating Serotypes of Dengue in Bastar, Chhattisgarh: A Cross‐Sectional Study

The dengue virus is a significant re-emerging arbovirus drawing global public health concern. Urbanization, population growth, human mobility, water access, and storage practices contribute to its transmission. This hospital-based cross-sectional study is designed to determine dengue infection and prevalence in the district Bastar, Chhattisgarh. Blood samples were collected from the patients, and based on fever duration, they were tested for nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) antigen and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody detection. NS1 positive cases were further tested by RT-PCR for serotyping. Among the 2223 collected samples, 2041 were screened for NS1 and 182 for IgM; among them, the positivity was 55 (2.70%) in NS1 and 23 (12.63%) in IgM, respectively. Overall positivity of the dengue cases was 78 (3.51%); however, sex-wise, male and female, dengue positive cases were 45 and 33, respectively. NS1 was positive in 55 cases (70.51%), and IgM in 23 (29.49%) patients. Among these 78 cases, 4 NS1 and 2 IgM cases have shown symptoms of warning signs, while the rest of the cases have shown nonwarning symptoms. Among the 55 NS1 positive cases, the age group (21-60 years) was most affected by 45 (81.81%) DENV cases and the prevalent serotype was DENV-2 in singly and DENV-1 and DENV-2 in combination. The study's serotyping data might signify the early detection and identification of circulating serotypes, which provides valuable insights to clinicians for managing dengue infections. Hence, continuous epidemiological surveillance of DENV in the area is essential to anticipate future heterologous infections and their impact on healthcare. Early detection and vigilant monitoring of patients are crucial for identifying the circulating serotypes of dengue virus, facilitating subsequent epidemiological studies and disease control strategies.