Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 59 (2), 85-91, 2006
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Original Article
Molecular Characterization and Clinical Evaluation of Dengue Outbreak in 2002 in Bangladesh
Mohammed Alimul Islam1,5, Muzahed Uddin Ahmed2, Nasima Begum3, Naseem Akhtar Chowdhury3, Afjal Hossain Khan1, Maria del Carmen Parquet1, Sophie Bipolo1, Shingo Inoue1, Futoshi Hasebe1, Yasuo Suzuki4,5 and Kouichi Morita1,5*
1Department of Virology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523; 4Department of Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka 422-8526; 5Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan; 2Department of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh; and 3Shaheed Suhrawardi Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
(Received October 17, 2005. Accepted January 26, 2006)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Virology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Sakamoto 1-12-4, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan. Tel: +81-95-849-7829, Fax: +81-95-849-7830, E-mail: moritak@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
SUMMARY: During the febrile illness epidemic in Bangladesh in 2002, 58 people died out of the 6,132 affected. Two hundred hospitalized patients were analyzed clinically, serologically and virologically to determine the features of this dengue infection. Among the 10- to 70-year-old age group of the 200 clinically suspected dengue patients, 100 (50%) were confirmed as dengue cases by virus isolation and dengue IgM-capture ELISA. Of the 100 dengue-confirmed cases, the mean age was 29.0 (+/-12.4). The possible dengue secondary infection rate determined by Flavivirus IgG-indirect ELISA was 78% in 2002. Eight dengue virus strains were isolated, representing the first dengue virus isolation in the country, and all of the strains were dengue virus type-3 (DEN-3). Sequence data for the envelope gene of the DEN-3 Bangladeshi isolates were used in a phylogenetic comparison with DEN-3 from other countries. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that all 8 strains of DEN-3 were clustered within a well-supported independent sub-cluster of genotype II and were closely related to the Thai isolates from the 1990s. Therefore, it is likely that the currently circulating DEN-3 viruses entered Bangladesh from neighboring countries.