Frequency of Chikungunya Virus Infection in the Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of Chikungunya virus infection in the tertiary care hospital of Karachi during the time from 1stJanuary 2017 till 31st December 2018. Study Design: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Dow Diagnostic Reference and Research Laboratory, Karachi, Pakistan from 1stJanuary 2017 till 31st December 2018. Materials and Methods: Serum of suspected patients of Chikungunya virus infection was separated from venous blood samples and checked for Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against Chikungunya virus infections by applying a micro titer plate enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay. Data was collected after the approval of Ethical committee of Dow University of Health Sciences by Pacslink software and analysis was accomplished by using Statistical Package for Social Science SPSS version 17.0 for frequencies of age group, gender, and IgM positive Chikungunya virus infection. Results: Out of 4329 venous blood samples collected from suspected patients of Chikungunya virus infection. 1181(27%) showed the presence of IgM of Chikungunya virus (CHKV) infection. Majority of the patients were in the third decade of their lives with median age of 38.74 years. Males were slightly more 605(51%) than female 575(48%) (Table I). Age group 16-44 years showed high prevalence 627(53%) as compared to other age groups (2017-2018) (Figure: 1). Incidence of CHKV was higher in October and November 2017(37.8%), than 2018 (Figure: 2). Conclusion: This study concluded that the frequency of Chikungunya virus Infection was higher during the period from 1st October till 31st November 2017.

Keywords

• chikungunya virus, tertiary care hospital, infection control, viral diseases, serology markers.