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Epidemiological study of dengue infection in children, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand
 

Specific aims of the study

1.
Developing and maintaining a comprehensive active surveillance system for the rapid identification of children with febrile illness, dengue fever/dengue hemorrhagic fever (For 2007 study, had been reported in the Second Progress Report).
2. Determine the epidemiology of symptomatic dengue virus infection 2007 – is reported in this document.
3.
Creating a repository of characterized serum specimens for further studies by qualified investigators (For 2007, had been reported in the Second Progress Report).
4.
Determine the host immunological and viral factors that influence dengue disease severity. (This objective has not been evaluated due to number of subjects with severe disease were few).
 
Study site

A prospective descriptive dynamic cohort school-based study of dengue infection in primary school children, is being conducted in Muang district, Ratchaburi Province , Thailand . Ratchaburi Province ranks among the top 10 provinces in Thailand for dengue incidence. The Muang district located 100 km southwest to Bangkok, has a total population of 194,815 and an area of 423 km 2, has the highest level of dengue virus transmission in the province. It has an 800-bed public hospital ( Ratchaburi Regional Hospital , RRH) that is the major source of health care for the province. This study has been fully established in February 2006.Here, we report results of epidemiology of symptomatic dengue virus infection in the second year of the study, from January 1 to December 31, 2007

Symptomatic dengue virus infection. In 2007, among the 3,348 students / 3,229 person-year studied (Table 1), 110 cases of laboratory confirmed acute dengue infection were observed, accounting for 3.41/100 person-year

 
Table 1 Students Distribution by School
 
School
Student
Person - year
T 1
391
377.25
T 2
718
678.04
T 3
417
404.07
T 4
425
411.17
T 5
268
258.92
An
547
526.97
KW
582
572.59
Total
3,348
3,228.99
 
Figure 1 Students Distribution by Age and Gender
 
The disease occurred all year. The incidence was relatively low in January to May, sharply rose in June and highest in October and December (Figure 2).
 
Figure 2 Incidence of Symptomatic Dengue Infection of Year 2006-2007 by Month
 
 
Financial Support : Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI) and the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand
   
 
Last updated: April 25, 2008
 
 
 
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