Dengue Seroprevalence in Different Geographic Zones of India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies

Abstract

Dengue is a highly prevalent mosquito-borne disease that is endemic in over 100 countries. It has a wider impact in terms of severity of illness and mortality risk in the absence of an effective vaccine as yet. The purpose of this study was to use meta-analysis to find out how common the dengue virus (DENV) is in India based on public data and to figure out how much of a problem. We searched, read, and reviewed about DENV in India that were available online. Forty-four cross-sectional studies were selected from the 178 records. There were reports of dengue cases in 14 out of the 28 states. Out of the patients presenting with symptoms of Dengue 27% of people were confirmed to have DENV infection with 82.29% (95% CI. 81-84%), having dengue IgM, 41.67% (95% CI: 40.16-43.43), having dengue IgG, and 23.97% (95% C.I. 14-43%), having both IgG and IgM from positive sample n=27156. Hospital-based cross-sectional studies on suspected Dengue-like illness (DLI) found that 99.48% of people had confirmed dengue out of the patients with features of DLI, and community-based studies found that 0.52% of DLI cases had dengue. The seroprevalence rates for East, South, North, and Western regions were 35.38% (95% C.I.14-31%), 11.57% (95% C.I. 2-69%), 38.10% (95% C.I. 9-61%), and 14.87% (95% C.I. 6-38%) correspondingly. DENV is interestingly spreading across the whole country, and the disease’s frequency varies a lot from place to place and from 2010-2023. However this review does not find appropriate published literature from 50% of the Indian states. The identification of IgG-class antibodies to dengue virus is indicative of prior exposure to this pathogen. Almost all immunocompetent individuals should have developed IgG antibodies against the dengue virus within three weeks of exposure. The presence of dengue virus IgM-class antibodies is indicative of an acute phase of infection. National Vector borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) has some surveillance information, appropriate designed research into prevalence and risk factors for DENV infection would be required to provide adequate information for public health intervention.