Co-infection of dengue and hepatitis A virus among pediatric population: A study from a tertiary care center in central India during 2022-2023.

BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES

Co-infection of dengue virus and acute hepatitis A virus in paediatric population is a major health concern in endemic countries. This cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis A virus among the clinically dengue suspected paediatric cases presented at our tertiary care centre during the two-year period (2022-2023).

METHODS

A total of 747 dengue suspected paediatric clinical specimens were included in this study. Serological diagnosis of DENV and HAV was done using Dengue IgM capture ELISA kit and anti-HAV IgM ELISA kits.

RESULTS

Out of the 747 dengue suspected paediatric patients, 245 (32.8%) were seropositive for either DENV, HAV, or both viruses and among these 135 (18.07%) were positive for DENV, 110 (14.72%) were positive for HAV, 22 (2.94%) were co-infected with both DENV2 and HAV. Further, among DENV seronegative cases, 88 (11.78%) clinical samples were found to be HAV positive. Among all the age groups, the highest prevalence of DENV and HAV was observed in 6-10 years. The monsoon season observed the highest number of seropositive cases compared to winter season and summer seasons. Fever was found to be the most prevalent clinical symptom followed by nausea/vomiting and stomach discomfort.

INTERPRETATION CONCLUSION

This study underlines the significance of differential diagnosis for the detection of concurrently transmitted viral diseases during the common seasons in the endemic areas. Diagnostic challenges like misdiagnosis events can be solved by advising differential diagnosis especially in paediatric cases.