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. 2021 Jan 21;21(1):96.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-05809-1.

Retrospective Seroepidemiology study of dengue virus infection in Taiwan

Ying-Hsuan Lee  1 , Yu-Chia Hsieh  1   2 , Chih-Jung Chen  1   2 , Tzou-Yien Lin  1   2 , Yhu-Chering Huang  3   4
Affiliations

Retrospective Seroepidemiology study of dengue virus infection in Taiwan

Ying-Hsuan Lee et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Dengue virus infection has been an important and serious public health concern in Taiwan, where local outbreaks of dengue fever occurred almost every year. To our knowledge, no nationwide investigation has been carried out to determine the actual extent of infection in the general population.

Methods: A total of 1308 random serum samples were collected from the general population in Taiwan in 2010. The antibody-captured enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to detect DENV-specific IgM and IgG. Demographics data were used for risk analysis.

Results: The weighted overall seroprevalence was 1.96% for anti-DENV IgM, and 3.4% for anti-DENV IgG, respectively. A significant rise of DENV IgG seropositive rate had been noted since late adulthood stage, from 1.1% at the age group of 50-59 years to 7.6% at the age group of 60-69 years. For people aged over 70 years, the seropositive rate reached 19%. Age, nationality, and regions of residency were associated with the IgG seropositivity. There was no statistically significant difference in seroprevalence of anti-Dengue IgM, indicating recent infection, among univariate predictors we proposed, including gender, age, residency, nationality, and household size.

Conclusions: Our results indicated that the majority of population in Taiwan born after 1940 is naive to dengue virus and the prevalence of IgG antibody against dengue virus rises with age. Nationality, and regions of residency are associated with the exposure of population to infection by dengue viruses. Further studies are needed to realize the current situation of seroprevalence of dengue fever in Taiwan.

Keywords: Dengue fever; Nationality; Seroepidemiology; Taiwan.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Age group-specific anti-DENV IgM seroprevalence by region
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Age group-specific anti-DENV IgG seroprevalence by region
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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