Integrated Surveillance of Dengue Fever in Nepal

Rajeev Shrestha of Dhulikhel Hospital Kathmandu University Hospital in Nepal with the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp in Brussels and Paul Pronyk of National University of Singapore in Singapore will establish an integrated surveillance platform to speed the detection of dengue and the response to dengue outbreaks in Nepal. The platform will encompass dengue surveillance at multiple levels. Ecological and community-based surveillance will incorporate population-based, longitudinal dengue serosurveys to identify dengue hotspots. Hotspot mapping will integrate meteorological data for targeted mosquito vector surveillance, including serotype-specific detection of dengue virus in mosquitoes. Hospital-based surveillance will combine PCR-based dengue detection with information on clinical outcomes at sites across diverse geographical locations in Nepal, and genomic profiling will be performed for a subset of these circulating dengue strains. The integrated platform will serve national health authorities and policymakers, while setting the stage for similar platforms targeting additional emerging infectious diseases.