A. Joubert, F. Andry, A. Bertolotti, F. Accot, Y. Koumar, F. Legrand, P. Poubeau, R. Manaquin, P. Gérardin, C. Levin
medRxiv, 2020
Background. As coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading globally, several countries are handling dengue epidemics. As both infections are deemed to share similarities at presentation, it would be useful to distinguish COVID-19 from dengue in the context of co-epidemics. In this aim, we performed a cohort study to identify predictors of both infections. Methods. All the subjects suspected of COVID-19 between March 23 and May 10, 2020, were screened for COVID-19 within the testing center of the University hospital of Saint-Pierre, Reunion island. The screening consisted in a questionnaire surveyed in face-to-face, a nasopharyngeal swab specimen for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse transcription polymerase chain-reaction and a rapid diagnostic orientation test for dengue. Factors independently associated with COVID-19 or with dengue were sought using multinomial logistic regression models, taking other febrile illnesses (OFIs) as controls. Results. Over a two-month study period, we identified among 80 COVID-19, 60 dengue and 872 OFIs cases, delayed presentation (>3 days) since symptom onset (Odds ratio 1.89, 95% confidence interval 1.4-3.40), contact with a COVID-19 positive case (OR 3.81, 95%CI 2.12-6.82) and anosmia (OR 8.27, 95%CI 4.39-15.54) as independent predictors of COVID-19, body ache (OR 6.83, 95%CI 2.84-16.41), headache (OR 5.38, 95%CI 1.81-15.94) and retro-orbital pain (OR 7.45, 95%CI 3.17-17.50) as independent predictors of dengue, while smoking was less likely observed with COVID-19 (OR 0.27, 95%CI 0.10-0.74). Conclusions. Although prone to potential biases, these data suggest that dengue may be more symptomatic than COVID-19 in a co-epidemic setting with higher dengue attack rates.
Cited by 1 publication.
Field of study: Medicine