Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC202512 (Oral 105) | Published: 14 Aug 2025
Abigail Abankwa1,2, Deborah Pratt1, Yaw Awuku-Larbi1, Magdalene Ofori1, Bright Agbodzi2, Ama Mante1, Selassie Kumordjie3, Miriam Eshun1, Stella Bour1, Nancy Enimil1, Juliana Acquah-Amaning1, Prince Ketorwoley1, Maame Boapea1, David Nutakor1, Musah Salisu1, Gertrude Stephens1, Emmanuel Boateng1, Tracy Adjandeh1, Joel Koomson1, Dennis Laryea4, Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe4, Patrick Kuma-Aboagye4, Patrick Avevor5, Argata Guracha5, Sally-Ann Ohene5, Michael Wiley6, Joseph Bonney1,&
1Virology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, 2Genomics and Bioinformatics Core Facility (GBCF) Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, 3Parasitology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, 4Public Health Division, Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health, Accra, Ghana, 5Country Office Accra, World Health Organization, 6University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, USA
&Corresponding author: Joseph Humphrey Kofi Bonney, Virology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, Email: Kbonney@noguchi.ug.edu.gh
Received: 31 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 14 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Dengue, Ghana, Outbreak, serotype, DENV-1
©Abigail Abankwa et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Abigail Abankwa et al., Outbreak of Dengue fever in Ghana: The emergence of DENV-1 serotype. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00105. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00105
Dengue, a mosquito-borne virus continues to be a public health concern in the tropics and subtropical parts of Africa. Due to the increase of urbanization, climate change and trans-Atlantic trade, the transmitting vector, Aedes aegypti, has become prevalent hence the rapid growth of the disease, globally. In Ghana, there have been sporadic laboratory-confirmed cases of Dengue reported over the years through surveillance activities. However, despite the detection of these cases, Ghana had never experienced a major outbreak (unlike its neighboring countries) until July 2024.
During this outbreak, a total of 1471 suspected Dengue fever specimen received from various health facilities in Ghana in NMIMR for molecular diagnostic testing using a RT-qPCR assay for Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses and selected positives sequenced using Illumina Next Generation Sequencing.
Dengue fever virus RNA was detected from 206 samples and serotyped as DENV-1 with one DENV-3 coinfection. Thirty-nine genomes were successfully generated after sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of DENV-1 strains revealed two main clusters with AFI isolates in Ghana and isolates from other West African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Senegal) circulating between 2017–2019. In 2023, DENV-1 was frequently isolated which could account for it being the predominant serotype transmitted in the recent outbreak.
The outbreak response and the case management procedures deployed by the health authorities during this outbreak were swift and was enough to prevent a fatal difficult-to-control situation. With the absence of a widely accepted commercialized vaccine and treatment for Dengue fever, there is a need to enhance surveillance activities and control the vectors which can transmit DENV in-country to curb the occurrence of outbreaks.
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