Mobile laboratory reveals the circulation of Dengue virus serotype I of Asian origin in Medina Gounass (Guediawaye), Senegal

Abstract

With the growing success of controlling malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, the incidence of fever due to malaria is in decline, whereas the proportion of patients with non-malaria febrile illness (NMFI) is increasing. Clinical diagnosis of NMFI is hampered by unspecific symptoms but early diagnosis is a key factor for better patient care and for disease control. The aim of this study was to determine the arboviral aetiologies of NMFI in a low resources settings using a mobile laboratory based on Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) assays. The panel of tests for this study was expanded to five arboviruses including (Dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Yellow fever virus (YFV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Rift valley fever virus (RVFV). One hundred and four children aged between one month and 115 months were enrolled and screened. Three of 104 blood samples of children < 10 years presenting at an outpatient clinic tested positive for DENV. The results were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR, partial sequencing, and non structural protein 1 (NS1) antigen capture ELISA (Biorad, France). Phylogenetic analysis of the derived DENV-1 sequences clustered them with sequences of DENV-1 isolates from Guangzhou in China in 2014. In conclusion, this mobile setup proved reliable for the rapid identification of the causative agent of NMFI, with results consistent with those obtained in the reference laboratory`s settings.