Molecular detection of dengue virus in patients suspected of Ebola virus disease in Ghana

Joseph Humphrey Kofi Bonney, Takaya Hayashi, Samuel Dadzie, Esinam Agbosu, Deborah Pratt, Stephen Nyarko, Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Eiji Ido, Badu Sarkodie, Nobuo Ohta, Shoji Yamaoka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dengue fever is known to be one of the most common arthropod-borne viral infectious diseases of public health importance. The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific with an estimated two fifths of the world’s population being at risk. The notable endemic viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) found in West Africa, including yellow fever, Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, dengue fever and until recently Ebola have been responsible for most outbreaks with fatal consequences. These VHFs usually produce unclear acute febrile illness, especially in the acute phase of infection. In this study we detected the presence of 2 different serotypes (DENV-2 and DENV-3) of Dengue virus in 4 sera of 150 patients clinically suspected of Ebola virus disease during the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa with the use of serological and molecular test assays. Sequence data was successfully generated for DENV-3 and phylogenetic analysis of the envelope gene showed that the DENV-3 sequences had close homology with DENV-3 sequences from Senegal and India. This study documents molecular evidence of an indigenous Dengue fever viral infection in Ghana and therefore necessitates the need to have an efficient surveillance system to rapidly detect and control the dissemination of the different serotypes in the population which has the potential to cause outbreaks of dengue hemorrhagic fevers.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0208907
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume13
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2018
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Molecular detection of dengue virus in patients suspected of Ebola virus disease in Ghana'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this