Dengue fever in Morocco: result of surveillance during the year 2017 and first imported cases

Tahar Bajjou; Youssef Akhouad; Farida Hilali; Safae Elkochri; Abdelilah Laraqui; Nadia Touil; Idriss Lahlou Amine; Fattouma Mahassine; Yassine Sekhsokh

doi:10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20180633

Authors

Tahar Bajjou Research and Biosafety Laboratory P3, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Youssef Akhouad Center of Virology Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Farida Hilali Research and Biosafety Laboratory P3, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Safae Elkochri Virology Laboratory, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Abdelilah Laraqui Research and Biosafety Laboratory P3, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Nadia Touil Research and Biosafety Laboratory P3, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Idriss Lahlou Amine Virology Laboratory, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Fattouma Mahassine Center of Virology Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
Yassine Sekhsokh Research and Biosafety Laboratory P3, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20180633

Keywords:

Dengue, Imported, Morocco, RT-PCR, Surveillance

Abstract

Dengue is a significant mosquito-borne infection in humans, and its worldwide prevalence is rapidly increasing. The vector aedes albopictus has been revealed recently in the town of Rabat. Morocco established a program of active surveillance of dengue fever comprising many hospitals and laboratories across the kingdom. The purpose of this work is to describe the result of the surveillance of the dengue virus (DENV) infection during the year of 2017 among Moroccans and tourists who presented in our hospital with clinical signs of infection and to report the first confirmed positive cases of Dengue.

From 20 December 2016 to 20 December 2017, 21 patients were hospitalized for suspicion of DENV infection. Half of them were returning from Côte d’Ivoire which is a popular tourist and business country for Moroccans and where an outbreak of DENV was confirmed on July 2017. Fever, headache, arthralgia-myalgia and malaise in addition to the notion of return from an endemic country justify in clinicians the demand for analysis of detection of dengue virus by RT-PCR.

Dengue infection was confirmed in two patient both coming from Côte d’Ivoire, a Moroccan and an Ivorian who were staying in Abidjan during the period of the outbreak of 2017.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

World Health Organization. Media center: Dengue and Severe Dengue. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs117/en/ (Updated Apr 2017. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Dengue Epidemiology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Avaialble at: https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/epidemiology/index.html [Accessed 20th Dec 2017]

World Health Organization. Dengue and severe dengue. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs117/en/. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Guzman MG, Kouri G. Dengue: an update. Lancet Infect Dis. 2002;2:33-42.

Chan M, Johansson M. The incubation periods of dengue viruses. PLoS ONE. 2012;7:e50972.

World Health Organization. Dengue: Guidelines for Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention and Control. WHO/HTM/NTD/DEN/2009.1. World Health Organization. 2009. Available from: http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/documents/dengue-diagnosis.pdf. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

McCallum JE. Military medicine from ancient times to the21st century: Dengue fever. California, USA: ABC-CLIO, Inc.; 2008.

Bhatt S, Gething PW, Brady OJ, Messina JP, Farlow AW, Moyes CL, et al. The global distribution and burden of dengue. Nature. 2013;496:504-7.

Brady OJ, Gething PW, Bhatt S, Messina JP, Brownstein JS, Hoen AG, et al. Refining the global spatial limits of dengue virus transmission by evidence-based consensus. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012;6:e1760.

Bennouna A, Balenghien T, El Rhaffouli H, Schaffner F, Garros C, Gardès L, et al. First record of Stegomyia albopicta (=Aedes albopictus) in Morocco: a major threat to public health in North Africa? Med Vet Entomol. 2017;31(1):102-6.

Dengue, countries or areas at risk, 2013 Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO); 2014, Available from: http://gamapserver.who.int/ mapLibrary/Files/Maps/Global_DengueTransmission_ITHRiskMap.png. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Fred Were, The dengue situation in Africa Paediatr Int Child Health. 2012;32(s1):18-21.

WHO, Dengue control, Available from: http://www.who.int/denguecontrol/human/en/. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Phillips ML, Dengue reborn: widespread resurgence of a resilient vector. Environ Health Perspect. 2008;116(9):A382-8.

WHO Sustaining the drive to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases. World Health Organization. 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland; 2013.

Degallier N, Favier C, Boulanger JP, Menkes C, Imported and autochthonous cases in the dynamics of dengue epidemics in Brazil. Revista de Saúde Pública. 2009;43:1-7.

Hu W, Clements A, Williams G, Tong S, Mengersen K, Spatial patterns and socioecological drivers of dengue fever transmission in Queensland, Australia. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2012;120:260.

Huang X, Williams G, Clements ACA, Hu W Imported Dengue Cases, Weather Variation and Autochthonous Dengue Incidence in Cairns, Australia. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(12):e81887.

Le METL en chiffres, Moroccan Ministry of Equipment and Transport and logistic, Available at: http://www.equipement.gov.ma/chiffrescles/Documents/METL-en-chiffres-version-francaise-2014.pdf. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Karla Dieseldorff, Morocco Becomes Largest Investor in Ivory Coast, Morocco World News, January 9, 2016. Available at https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/01/177085/morocco-becomes-largest-investor-in-ivory-coast/. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

WHO, Emergencies preparedness, response Dengue fever-Côte d’Ivoire, Disease Outbreak News, 4 August 2017. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/don/04-august-2017-dengue-cote-d-ivoire/en/. Accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Pierro A, Varani S, Rossini G, Gaibani P, Cavrini F, Finarelli AC. et al., Imported cases of dengue virus infection: Emilia-Romagna, Italy, 2010, Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011;17:1352-5.

Amarasinghe A, Kuritsk JN, Letson GW, Margolis HS. Dengue virus infection in Africa. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011;17:1349-54.