Detection of Dengue and Chikungunya in Acute Febrile Illness Cases Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Western Maharashtra, India: A Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction-based Cross-sectional Observational Study

Background and Aim: Dengue and Chikungunya are major public health concerns worldwide. Both viruses have overlapping clinical presentations but differ in their complications. Dengue can be complicated by dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Chikungunya can cause chronic arthralgia and meningoencephalitis. Both are managed with supportive care, but the treatment differs in terms of complications. Moreover, if we miss one of them in co-infection, treatment of one may complicate another. Hence, it is essential to screen for both dengue and chikungunya in acute febrile illness (AFI), during the monsoon season when the incidence of both increases. Materials and Methods: This is a hospital-based cross-sectional prospective observational study. A total of 359 blood samples from all AFI cases received during the study were included and were tested for dengue serotypes, chikungunya, and coinfections using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The overall positivity for dengue and chikungunya was 33.43% (120/359), with a confidence interval of 28.55%–38.31%. Among the 120 positive cases, 30 (25%) samples were positive for Dengue, and 90 (75%) were positive for chikungunya. Dengue virus-2 was the predominant serotype detected. No cases of co-infection were detected. Dengue predominantly affected individuals aged 21–40 years and females. Chikungunya predominantly affected individuals aged 41–60 years and males. Conclusion: Dengue and chikungunya share clinical presentation but differ in their complications. Although no coinfections were identified in this study, chikungunya showed a higher proportion than Dengue among total positives. This indicates that both viruses can co-circulate during the same season. Hence, it is important to screen for both viruses in AFI cases.