Dengue fever prevalence in children under 15 years of age at the Yirimadio Community Health Center in Commune VI of Bamako, 2024

Abstract

Introduction: Dengue, the most widespread arboviral disease in the world, now constitutes a public health problem in its severe form. It is classified as a neglected tropical disease. We conducted this study to assess the prevalence of dengue in the Bamako health district and surrounding areas. Materials and Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study over a 3-month period (March 6 to May 30, 2024) involving children aged 0 to 14 years from the Yirimadio Community Health Center (CSCOM) in Commune VI of the Bamako district. We defined dengue as cases with a positive dengue rapid diagnostic test (RDT) to the non-structural protein NS1 and/or antibody IgM. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 software. Results: Of a total of 500 febrile patients enrolled, 256 tested positive for dengue, representing 51.2%. Males were the majority (54.4% of dengue cases). Children aged 0-5 years represented 72.8% of cases, while the 6-10 and 11-14 age groups were smaller, at 22% and 5.2% respectively. We observed no hemorrhagic forms. There were 159 cases of dengue- malaria coinfection, representing 33.4% of cases. Conclusion: Dengue should be considered in all febrile cases, even when malaria is confirmed, and this aspect should be considered in the implementation of dengue surveillance programs in Bamako.