Dengue seroprevalence study during COVID-19 pandemic in Bali

IntroductionDengue infection poses significant public health problems in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world. The clinical manifestation of dengue varies from asymptomatic cases to severe dengue manifestation. The detection of clinical cases enables us to measure the incidence of dengue infection, whereas serological surveys give insights into the prevalence of infection. This study aimed to determine the dengue prevalence among healthy adult patients in Bali. MethodCross-sectional seroprevalence surveys were performed from July 2020 to June 2021 among healthy and adult patients in Denpasar Bali. Blood samples were collected from 539 randomly selected samples from urban sites in Denpasar. IgG antibodies against DENV were detected in serum using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. ResultsOverall, the positive dengue seroprevalence rate among 539 clinically healthy adult patients was high (85.5%). The subjects median age was 34.1 (range between 18-86.1) years old. Most participants in the study were younger than 40 years old (61.2%). The gender is dominated by males (54.5%). The study found a significant association of dengue seropositivity among people age more than 40 years old with healthy status (p=0.005 and p<0.001, respectively). Another seroprevalence study reported a lower rate of dengue infection in children in Indonesia (69.4%). The difference may be associated with less probability of Aedes bites among the children. The study reflected the proportion of asymptomatic dengue that needs better assessment with a serological test. ConclusionThe current study highlighted a high prevalence of dengue seropositive with a relatively dominant proportion of asymptomatic cases. The study guides the physicians o to beware of every dengue infection in tropical countries and prevents the spread of the disease.