Burden and distribution of dengue infection in Pakistan (2000-19): a review

The goal of this study is to review the overall prevalence, burden, and distribution of the dengue disease in Pakistan from 2000 to 2019. Literature was searched using different search engines like Google scholar, PubMed, etc. providing the keywords "Dengue disease/infection, Dengue virus, DENV, DF/DHF/ DSS Pakistan". All the published research papers/reports on the dengue virus over the period 2000 to 2019 were studied and selected data were summarized using MS Excel for windows such as total cases, age wise, gender, DENV serotype distribution, total DHF, and DSS patients. The literature providing insufficient data was excluded. The total number of cases reported during 2000-19 were 201,269. The maximum number of cases during the mentioned literature survey period was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) (23.3%) followed by Punjab (3.8%) and Sindh (1.9%). The majority of dengue-infected cases were reported as Dengue fever (74.4%) followed by DHF (24.1%) and DSS (1.5%). Overall the deaths during the mentioned literature survey were 1082, of which the maximum mortalities were reported from KP (N=248) followed by Punjab (N=220). DENV remains a major public health problem in Pakistan and seems to remain endemic for a long time. The total prevalence of dengue infection is increased accordingly with time from 2000 to 2019. Moreover, all the four serotypes exist in Pakistan with increased mortalities.