The Burden of Acute Febrile Illness Attributable to Dengue Virus Infection in Sri Lanka: A Single-Center 2-Year Prospective Cohort Study (2016–2019)

We performed a 2-year prospective cohort study to determine the incidence of dengue in Angoda, Colombo district, Sri Lanka (NCT02570152). The primary objective was to determine the incidence of acute febrile illness (AFI) because of laboratory confirmed dengue (LCD). Secondary objectives were to determine AFI incidence due to non-LCD, describe AFI symptoms, and estimate AFI incidence because of LCD by dengue virus (DENV)-type and age group. Participants from households with at least one minor and one adult (≤50 years) were enrolled and followed with scheduled weekly visits and, in case of AFI, unscheduled visits. Blood was collected for DENV detection at AFI visits, and symptoms recorded during the 7-day period following AFI onset. A total of 2,004 participants were enrolled (971 children, and 1,033 adults). A total of 55 LCD episodes were detected (overall incidence of 14.2 per 1,000 person-years). Incidence was the highest among children < 5 years (21.3 per 1,000 person-years) and 5-11 years (22.7 per 1,000 person-years), compared with adults ≥ 18 years (9.2 per 1,000 person-years). LCD was mostly (83.6%) caused by DENV-2 (N = 46), followed by DENV-1 (N = 6) and DENV-3 (N = 3). Common symptoms of LCD were headache, fatigue, myalgia, loss of appetite, and arthralgia. Incidence of AFI because of non-LCD was 47.3 per 1,000 person-years. In conclusion, this study reports the LCD incidence for a DENV-2 dominated epidemic that is comparable to the incidence of suspected dengue reported passively for 2017, one of the worst outbreaks in recent history.