Dengue Prevalence and its Predictors Among the Suspected Cases Attending at Puthia Health Complex, Rajshahi

Background: Dengue is an important arthropod-borne viral infection which poses a global public health problem. The burden of dengue cases reached its worst not only in major cities but also in all the districts of Bangladesh. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of dengue fever and identify its important correlates and predictors in rural Bangladesh. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at Puthia Upazilla Health Complex (UHC), Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The suspected cases of dengue fever attending at the Health Complex constituted the study population. A total of 328 suspected cases were included in this study. NS1 Ag (1-5 days of fever) or IgM test (after 5 days of fever) were performed for the confirming the diagnosis of the suspected cases in the pathological laboratory of the UHC. Data were collected by data collection sheet from the Laboratory Register Book and through telephonic interview. Chi-square and t test were applied to find out the association between the status of dengue fever, and the socio-de- mographic and symptomatic characteristics. Multiple logistic regression was applied to identify the socio-demographic and symptomatic predic- tors of dengue fever. Results: Prevalence of dengue fever in suspected cases was 5.2%. The mean age of the dengue positive cases (38.08±17.50) was significantly higher than dengue negative cases (23.46±15.16) (P=0.002) and the majority (83.30%) of the positive cases were male. There was no significant (P>0.05) differentiation of dengue fever status, i.e. dengue fever positive or negative, in regard of gender, educational qualification, monthly family income, number of household members and history of recent visits to Dhaka. Common clinical features of dengue fever except myalgia and arthralgia were not statistically asso- ciated with the dengue fever. None of the clinical features were identified as an independent predictor of dengue fever. Conclusion: The present study noticed two important epidemiological shifting of dengue fever. First one, dengue fever also prevalent in rural area. This is a warning massage to the heath authority of Bangladesh, because generally dengue is an urban disease. Second one, dengue is experiencing a demographicshift to older ages. As a result, it is increasing the disease burden to the adult population as well as its clinical management of the subgroup becomes very challenging.