The prevalence of dengue IgG and IgM antibodies was investigated in 689 patients with suspected dengue. Of the 689 suspected cases, 373 (54.1%) were found to be positive for dengue antibodies, IgM being dominant. There was a significant relationship between incidence of dengue fever and season: all cases were reported during the rainy season, especially the post-monsoon season (89.5%), with none during the dry season. More male (79.3%) than female individuals were positive cases and the incidence was highest in the 21-49 year age group (63%). This is the first seroprevalence study reported from Multan, Pakistan.

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Introduction: District Sheikhupura encountered its first dengue outbreak in 2014 but lacked serological evidence and reports of risk factors associated with it. To assess this, a hospital-based study was conducted from January 2014 to December 2017. Methodology: Blood from 333 participants was collected, the serum obtained was tested for IgG and IgM antibodies against DENV using a commercially available ELISA kit. Results: The results showed that out of all (n= 333) samples tested, 120 were turned up positive for DENV, making an overall prevalence of 36%. Of the 120 confirmed cases, 55% (n = 66) were recorded in 2014, 10% (n = 12) in 2015, 27.5% (n = 33) in 2016, and 7.5% (n = 9) in 2017. It was found that 68.3% (n = 82) were male and 31.7% (n = 38) were female, with 61% (n = 74) patients aged between 11-30 years. The highest prevalence of infection, 94.2% (n = 113), was noted after the rainy season. During the study, the highest number of cases appeared in Ferozewala Tehsil. The factors age, gender, and season were found statistically significant with the prevalence of infection (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The study is the first report on the detection of dengue in the Sheikhupura district. The survey anticipated its geographical expansion, determined associated risk factors, and suggests active disease surveillance in the area.

IntroductionThe impact of the built environment on health and chronic disease outcomes is increasingly being recognized. As Public Health develops interventions to transform the health-promoting potential of built environments, effective monitoring and evaluation will require the creation and baseline measurement of key health-promoting urban elements. Objectives and ApproachThe Healthy Development Monitoring Project aims to assess health-promoting aspects of the existing built environment across the Region of Peel, a large region of 1.382 million people in Southern Ontario comprised of three local municipalities (the Cities of Mississauga, Brampton and Town of Caledon). Project objectives include: Produce evidence-informed indicators to measure health-promoting built form elements at a neighbourhood-scale across the region Produce a GIS-based visualization that incorporates these indicators into a single model to measure their combined impact on the built form Reproduce these indicators over time to monitor for changes in Peel’s built form ResultsThe resulting Healthy Development Monitoring Map (HDMM) is an interactive online mapping tool that includes twenty built form indicators characterizing the region’s built environment, including: density, service proximity, land use mix, street connectivity, streetscape characteristics and efficient parking. These indicators were created through extensive cross-sectoral collaboration with regional and municipal staff in land-use and policy planning, transportation, internal data centers and academic institutions. This collaborative approach enabled the linking of data sets from land-use planning, urban design and transportation to allow the health-promoting potential of existing built environment conditions to be objectively described. The HDMM demonstrates considerable progress in producing precise, neighbourhood-level built environment indicators at a regional scale by integrating census and local data into a comprehensive set of empirically-derived measures. Conclusion/ImplicationsThe HDMM is a novel approach to quantifying a social determinant of health through collaborative data acquisition and analysis. The HDMM benefits public health, planning and non-governmental decision-makers by creating a holistic presentation of key infrastructure and design elements that contribute to healthier urban environments.