Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Institute of Community Medicine, Madras Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India..
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Institute of Community Medicine, Madras Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Institute of Vector Control and Zoonoses, Hosur, 635126, Tamil Nadu.
Institute of Vector Control and Zoonoses, Hosur, 635126, Tamil Nadu.
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
School of Health Sciences and Technology, UPES, Dehradun, 248007, Uttarakhand, India.
Regional Medical Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 610 005, India.
Blood and Vascular Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 610 005, India.
Department of Microbiology, Government Theni Medical College and Hospital, Theni, Tamil Nadu, India.
Center for Infectious Diseases, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68131, USA.
Asian Institute of Public Health University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Division of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory Vaccine Center, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA.
Infection and Inflammation, Department of Biotechnology, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 610 005, India.
State Public Health Laboratory, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, DMS Campus, Teynampet 600 018, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Background: Dengue is a vector-borne viral disease impacting millions across the globe. Nevertheless, akin to many other diseases, reports indicated a decline in dengue incidence and seroprevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-22). This presumably could be attributed to reduced treatment-seeking rates, under-reporting, misdiagnosis, disrupted health services and reduced exposure to vectors due to lockdowns. Scientific evidence on dengue virus (DENV) disease during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited globally.
Methods: A cross-sectional, randomized cluster sampling community-based survey was carried out to assess anti-dengue IgM and IgG and SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroprevalence across all 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The prevalence of DENV in the Aedes mosquito pools during 2021 was analyzed and compared with previous and following years of vector surveillance for DENV by real-time PCR.
Findings: Results implicate that both DENV-IgM and IgG seroprevalence and mosquito viral positivity were reduced across all the districts. A total of 13464 mosquito pools and 5577 human serum samples from 186 clusters were collected. Of these, 3·76% of mosquito pools were positive for DENV. In the human sera, 4·12% were positive for DENV IgM and 6·4% were positive for DENV IgG. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titres correlated with dengue seropositivity with a significant association whereas vaccination status significantly correlated with dengue IgM levels.
Interpretation: Continuous monitoring of DENV seroprevalence, especially with the evolving variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and surge in COVID-19 cases will shed light on the transmission and therapeutic attributes of dengue infection.