Field Deployment of a Mobile Biosafety Laboratory Reveals the Co-Circulation of Dengue Viruses Serotype 1 and Serotype 2 in Louga City, Senegal, 2017

• Published in: Journal of Tropical Medicine
• Main Authors: Idrissa Dieng, Maryam Diarra, Moussa Moïse Diagne, Martin Faye, Marie Henriette Dior Ndione, Yamar Ba, Mamadou Diop, El Hadji Ndiaye, Paolo Marinho de Andrade Zanotto, Boly Diop, Mamadou Ndiaye, Abdoulaye Bousso, Ndongo Dia, Mawlouth Diallo, Aliou Barry, Gamou Fall, Cheikh Loucoubar, Amadou Alpha Sall, Ousmane Faye, Oumar Faye
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8817987; https://doaj.org/article/038cbe84d11e4ba5b095a5b5c63f9df7

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most prevalent arboviral threat worldwide. This virus belonging to genus Flavivirus, Flaviviridae family, is responsible for a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic or mild febrile illness (dengue fever) to life-threatening infections (severe dengue). Many sporadic cases and outbreaks have occurred in Senegal since 1970. Nevertheless, this article describes a field investigation of suspected dengue cases, between 05 September 2017 and 17 December 2017 made possible by the deployment of a Mobile Biosafety Laboratory (MBS-Lab). Overall, 960 human sera were collected and tested in the field for the presence of viral RNA by real-time RT-PCR. Serotyping, sequencing of complete E gene, and phylogenetic analysis were also performed. Out of 960 suspected cases, 131 were confirmed dengue cases. The majority of confirmed cases were from Louga community. Serotyping revealed two serotypes, Dengue 1 (100/104; 96, 15%) and Dengue 2 (04/104; 3, 84%). Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences obtained indicated that the Dengue 1 strain was closely related to strains isolated, respectively, in Singapore (Asia) in 2013 (KX380803.1) outbreak and it cocirculated with a Dengue 2 strain closely related to strains from a Burkina Faso dengue outbreak in 2016 (KY62776.1). Our results showed the co-circulation of two dengue virus serotypes during a single outbreak in a short time period. This co-circulation highlighted the need to improve surveillance in order to prevent future potential severe dengue cases through antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). Interestingly, it also proved the reliability and usefulness of the MBS-Lab for expedient outbreak response at the point of need, which allows early cases management.