Dengue: An exaggeration or a nemesis? An hospital based study in the Northern part of West Bengal, India

Article Type: Full Length Research Article Dengue epidemics are becoming a regular scary event every few years leading to significant mortality and morbidity; involving the whole of West Bengal, India. A hospital record based cross-sectional study with complete enumeration was conducted to analyse the overall seropositivity among the clinically suspected dengue cases referred to the rural tertiary care hospital in the Northern part of West Bengal, India. Serum samples from 6855 clinically suspected dengue cases were included in the study over a period of three years. Samples were tested for non-structural protein-1 (NS1) Antigen and IgM MAC enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) depending on the duration of fever. Of the 6855 samples screened, 62.91% (4313) were positive either for dengue NS1Ag or IgM antibody ELISA. Out of 4313 positive samples, 72.40% (3123) were positive for NS1Ag exclusively and 27.59% (1190) for IgM. More females were affected than males. The most affected was the primary school age group (64.75%). There was an increased occurrence during the post-monsoon season. The findings of this study revealed that containing dengue has been partially successful in the Northern part of West Bengal. However, dengue may again resurge and cause unprecedented panic among the people of the region if appropriate vector control measures are not continued. ©2017 BluePen Journals Ltd. All rights reserved