Diagnosis of Indigenous Non-Malarial Vector-Borne Infections from Malaria Negative Samples from Community and Rural Hospital Surveillance in Dhalai District, Tripura, North-East India
Ipsita Pal Bhowmick,
Apoorva Pandey,
Sarala K. Subbarao,
Rocky Pebam,
Tapan Majumder,
Aatreyee Nath,
Diptarup Nandi,
Analabha Basu,
Apurba Sarkar,
Saikat Majumder,
Jotish Debbarma,
Dipanjan Dasgupta,
Arup Borgohain,
Rajdeep Chanda,
Mandakini Das,
Karuna Gogoi,
Kongkona Gogoi,
Pyare Laal Joshi,
Harpreet Kaur,
Biswajyoti Borkakoti,
Dibya Ranjan Bhattacharya,
Abdul Mamood Khan,
Satyajit Sen,
Kanwar Narain
Affiliations
Ipsita Pal Bhowmick
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Apoorva Pandey
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ramalingaswami Bhavan, New Delhi 110029, India
Sarala K. Subbarao
Formerly National Institute of Malaria Research, Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR, New Delhi 110029, India
Rocky Pebam
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Department of Space, Government of India Umiam, Umiam 793103, India
Tapan Majumder
Department of Microbiology, Agartala Government Medical College, Agartala 799006, India
Aatreyee Nath
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Department of Space, Government of India Umiam, Umiam 793103, India
Diptarup Nandi
National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani 741251, India
Analabha Basu
National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani 741251, India
Apurba Sarkar
Department of Microbiology, Agartala Government Medical College, Agartala 799006, India
Saikat Majumder
Department of Microbiology, Agartala Government Medical College, Agartala 799006, India
Jotish Debbarma
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Dipanjan Dasgupta
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Arup Borgohain
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Department of Space, Government of India Umiam, Umiam 793103, India
Rajdeep Chanda
Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl 796004, India
Mandakini Das
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Karuna Gogoi
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Kongkona Gogoi
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Pyare Laal Joshi
Formerly National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP), New Delhi 110054, India
Harpreet Kaur
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ramalingaswami Bhavan, New Delhi 110029, India
Biswajyoti Borkakoti
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Dibya Ranjan Bhattacharya
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
Abdul Mamood Khan
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ramalingaswami Bhavan, New Delhi 110029, India
Satyajit Sen
Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare, Kolkata 700106, India
Kanwar Narain
Regional Medical Research Center-Northeast Region (RMRC-NE)-ICMR, Dibrugarh 786001, India
The aetiology of non-malaria vector-borne diseases in malaria-endemic, forested, rural, and tribal-dominated areas of Dhalai, Tripura, in north-east India, was studied for the first time in the samples collected from malaria Rapid Diagnostic Kit negative febrile patients by door-to-door visits in the villages and primary health centres. Two hundred and sixty serum samples were tested for the Dengue NS1 antigen and the IgM antibodies of Dengue, Chikungunya, Scrub Typhus (ST), and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) during April 2019–March 2020. Fifteen Dengue, six JE, twelve Chikungunya, nine ST and three Leptospirosis, and mixed infections of three JE + Chikungunya, four Dengue + Chikungunya, three Dengue + JE + Chikungunya, one Dengue + Chikungunya + ST, and one Dengue + ST were found positive by IgM ELISA tests, and four for the Dengue NS1 antigen, all without any travel history. True prevalence values estimated for infections detected by Dengue IgM were 0.134 (95% CI: 0.08–0.2), Chikungunya were 0.084 (95% CI: 0.05–0.13), Scrub were 0.043 (95% CI: 0.01–0.09), and Japanese Encephalitis were 0.045 (95% CI: 0.02–0.09). Dengue and Chikungunya were associated significantly more with a younger age. There was a lack of a defined set of symptoms for any of the Dengue, Chikungunya, JE or ST infections, as indicated by the k-modes cluster analysis. Interestingly, most of these symptoms have an overlapping set with malaria; thereby, it becomes imperative that malaria and these non-malaria vector-borne disease diagnoses are made in a coordinated manner. Findings from this study call for advances in routine diagnostic procedures and the development of a protocol that can accommodate, currently, in practicing the rapid diagnosis of malaria and other vector-borne diseases, which is doable even in the resource-poor settings of rural hospitals and during community fever surveillance.
