Evaluation of Dengue and Malaria co-infection in Rohilkhand Region of Northern India

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Both dengue and malaria are mosquito bornediseases, which are associated with high morbidity andmortality thus posing a worldwide public health problem.Both infections are endemic in tropical regions, leading to coinfections. Concurrent infections of malaria and dengue arewhen both the diseases occur simultaneously in an individual.Because of the similar clinical presentation between these twoinfections, the diagnosis of malaria and dengue co-infectionsmight be either misdiagnosed or misinterpreted as monoinfections. This study was aimed to evaluate the dengue andmalaria co-infection from this region.Material and methods: A total number of 994 patientssuffering from acute febrile illness were included in thestudy and screened for malaria and dengue infection.Blood sample from each febrile patient was collected inplain and EDTA vacutainer and were sent to the laboratory.The screening for malarial parasite was done by both rapidimmunochromatographic test and microscopic examination ofperipheral blood films (both thin and thick). Dengue screeningwas done by rapid immunochromatographic test as well as bydengue MAC ELISA.Results: 295 (29.67%) were found to be infected withdengue infection. Malaria parasite was found in 685 (68.91%)patients. Among them 430 (62.77%) cases were infected withPlasmodium vivax while 255 (37.22%) of cases were due toPlasmodium falciparum infection. Dengue and malaria coinfection was present in 30 (3.40%) patients with Plasmodiumfalciparum (53.33%) in most of the cases.Conclusion: The finding of this study indicates that denguemalaria co-infection is not uncommon. Both the infectionspresents clinically indistinguishable clinical features, earlydiagnosis of concurrent infection can be lifesaving.