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ABSTRACT: Background
This study aims to estimate the age-specific risks of clinical dengue attack (i.e., the risk of symptomatic dengue among the total number of dengue virus (DENV) infections) during primary and secondary infections.Methods
We analyzed two pieces of epidemiological information in Binh Thuan province, southern Vietnam, i.e., age-specific seroprevalence and a community-wide longitudinal study of clinical dengue attack. The latter data set stratified febrile patients with DENV infection by age as well as infection parity. A simple modeling approach was employed to estimate the age-specific risks of clinical dengue attack during primary and secondary infections.Results
Using the seroprevalence data, the force of infection was estimated to be 11.7% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 10.8-12.7) per year. Median age (and the 25-75 percentiles) of dengue fever patients during primary and secondary infections were 12 (9-20) and 20 (14-31) years, respectively. The estimated age-specific risk of clinical dengue increases as a function of age for both primary and secondary infections; the estimated proportion of symptomatic patients among the total number of infected individuals was estimated to be <7% for those aged <10 years for both primary and secondary infections, but increased as patients become older, reaching to 8-11% by the age of 20 years.Conclusions/significance
For both primary and secondary infections, higher age at DENV infection was shown to result in higher risk of clinical attack. Age as an important modulator of clinical dengue explains recent increase in dengue notifications in ageing countries in Southeast Asia, and moreover, poses a paradoxical problem of an increase in adult patients resulting from a decline in the force of infection, which may be caused by various factors including time-dependent variations in epidemiological, ecological and demographic dynamics.
SUBMITTER: Thai KT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3119638 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Thai Khoa T D KT Nishiura Hiroshi H Hoang Phuong Lan PL Tran Nga Thanh Thi NT Phan Giao Trong GT Le Hung Quoc HQ Tran Binh Quang BQ Nguyen Nam Van NV de Vries Peter J PJ
PLoS neglected tropical diseases 20110621 6
<h4>Background</h4>This study aims to estimate the age-specific risks of clinical dengue attack (i.e., the risk of symptomatic dengue among the total number of dengue virus (DENV) infections) during primary and secondary infections.<h4>Methods</h4>We analyzed two pieces of epidemiological information in Binh Thuan province, southern Vietnam, i.e., age-specific seroprevalence and a community-wide longitudinal study of clinical dengue attack. The latter data set stratified febrile patients with DE ...[more]