First Cases of Dengue Fever Confirmed in the National Hospitals of Zinder and Niamey

Dengue is an emerging arbovirus infection caused by any of the four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4) and transmitted via the bite of a mosquito from the genus Aedes. We hereby report seven cases of dengue hospitalized at the infectious and tropical disease departments of the National Hospitals of Zinder and Niamey from October 22, 2023, to December 05, 2023. All the cases presented fever, vomiting, algic, and hemorrhagic syndrome. Results from the complete blood count analysis revealed that all the patients had thrombocytopenia, six cases have leukopenia and two cases have anemia. Furthermore, one case of kidney failure was recorded. The case confirmation was conducted at the National Reference Laboratory for Arbovirus on blood samples using qualitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The technic is based on the amplification of any of the four serotypes of dengue virus nucleic acid using specific primers and probes as described by Wagner et al. All the cases recovered after hospitalization.