Division of Virology, Defence R & D Establishment (DRDE), Jhansi Road, Gwalior-474 002, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Dengue is the most important arboviral infection with an annual global incidence of 50–100 million. Recently, incidences of dengue virus infection have accelerated in many parts of the tropics including India. An in-depth investigation of a dengue outbreak in Andhra Pradesh, 2007 was carried out by analyzing 275 blood samples by serology, virus isolation and RT-PCR. The serological analysis indicated overall 52.7% seropositivity with IgM antibodies in 12%, IgG in 8.7% and both IgM and IgG antibodies in 32% samples. A total of 15 samples (5.4%) were found positive by RT-PCR. Serotyping by nested RT-PCR revealed nine as dengue-4 and six as dengue-3 positive. The serial three passages of these fifteen RT-PCR positive samples resulted in isolation of two dengue-4 and one dengue-3 isolates. The identification of dengue-4 in a dominant form in Andhra Pradesh has caused great worry among public health administration. A continuous surveillance is warranted to monitor its dissemination and track possible evolution of the virus in future epidemics.
