Department of Microbiology, Maulana Azad Medical, College, New Delhi-110 002, 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 fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) have emerged as a global public health problem in recent decades. In India, dengue outbreaks now occur more frequently, as in other high burden countries in South-East Asia. Dengue viruses exist as four distinct serotypes DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4. Since, a high mortality rate is associated with DHF, it is essential to identify the prevalent serotypes. Detection and serotypic characterization of dengue viruses using multiplex RT-PCR (mRTPCR) from patient's samples. Five milliliter of blood samples (0–5 days) were collected from 70 clinically suspected dengue cases of dengue fever from the wards of LN Hospital during the period July to September 2008. Anti-dengue IgM antibodies were detected in the serum by MAC-ELISA and mRT-PCR was performed for the detection and serotyping of dengue strains by the method of Harris et.al. Antidengue IgM antibody was detected in 20% of suspected dengue cases. The serotypes detected during the period of 2008 were DEN3- 1(8.33%), DEN1–10 (83.33%) and DEN2–1 (8.33%). DEN1 is the predominant serotype circulating in this region in the year 2008 followed by DEN3 and DEN2. 2007 witnessed the presence of all the four serotypes with dominance of DEN2 in this region. The variation in Dengue virus serotypes circulating over the years suggests that it can become a major cause of subsequent heterologous infection, leading to more severe disease because of antibody dependant enhancement (ADE).
