Possible Factors Influencing the Seroprevalence of Dengue among Residents of the Forest Fringe Areas of Peninsular Malaysia.

Possible Factors Influencing the Seroprevalence of Dengue among Residents of the Forest Fringe Areas of Peninsular Malaysia. J Trop Med. 2020;2020:1019238 Authors: Abd-Jamil J, Ngui R, Nellis S, Fauzi R, Lim ALY, Chinna K, Khor CS, AbuBakar S Abstract Dengue is an endemic mosquito-borne viral disease prevalent in many urban areas of the tropic, especially the Southeast Asia. Its presence among the indigenous population of Peninsular Malaysia (Orang Asli), however, has not been well described. The present study was performed to investigate the seroprevalence of dengue among the Orang Asli (OA) residing at the forest fringe areas of Peninsular Malaysia and determine the factors that could affect the transmission of dengue among the OA. Eight OA communities consisting of 491 individuals were recruited. From the study, at least 17% of the recruited study participants were positive for dengue IgG, indicating past exposure to dengue. Analysis on the demographic and socioeconomic variables suggested that high seroprevalence of dengue was significantly associated with those above 13 years old and a low household income of less than MYR500 (USD150). It was also associated with the vast presence of residential areas and the presence of a lake. Remote sensing analysis showed that higher land surface temperatures and lower land elevations also contributed to higher dengue seroprevalence. The present study suggested that both demographic and geog...
Source: Journal of Tropical Medicine - Category: Tropical Medicine Tags: J Trop Med Source Type: research