Epidemiological Trends of Dengue in One of the Western Hilly Areas of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Background: Dengue is one of the neglected tropical diseases, with a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from acute febrile illness dengue fever to life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome. In recent years, it has become a major public health concern in many nonendemic areas as well. Materials and Methods: A secondary data analysis of records available with district Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme cell was conducted to study distribution (time, place, and person) of dengue from 2017 to 2022 in Kangra, a sub-Himalayan district of Himachal Pradesh (HP). Results: In the evaluated period (2017–2022), a total of 6008 cases suspected of dengue were tested and test positivity of 7% (441) with male gender predominance was found. Mean age of the diagnosed cases was 37.7 ± 16.8 years. A seasonal trend was observed starting from late August to November in all study years. Conclusion: Dengue is still a neglected disease, but it has shown its presence especially in this part of HP, indicating the need for better preparation and sensitization of vector-borne disease control program activities, especially in post-monsoon, to prevent future epidemics.