More than half of children in USVI have had dengue, making them eligible for vaccine
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Key takeaways:
- Among children aged 9 to 13 years in the U.S. Virgin Islands, estimated dengue seroprevalence was 51%.
- Children aged between 9 and 16 years can receive a dengue vaccine if they have been previously infected.
Researchers estimated that more than half of children aged 9 to 13 in the U.S. Virgin Islands have been previously infected with dengue virus, making them eligible for vaccination, according to findings published in MMWR.
A dengue vaccine has been approved by the FDA since 2019 and recommended by the CDC since 2021 for children aged 9 to 16 years in endemic areas with laboratory confirmation of a previous dengue virus infection.
Children who have never been infected are not eligible to receive the vaccine because it can act as a first infection, making the child more susceptible to a severe case of dengue if they are infected naturally later on.
Infection with one of four serotypes of dengue virus confers immunity to that serotype but not to the other three, and places a person at higher risk for severe illness if they contract one of the other serotypes.
According to the MMWR report, the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health worked with the CDC to determine how many children in the eligible age group for vaccination had a previous dengue infection.
From April to May 2022, they conducted a serosurvey that included children and adolescents in third to seventh grade who were enrolled in 15 schools. With parental permission, the children received testing for previous dengue virus infection using a dengue immunoglobin G rapid diagnostic test with 89.6% sensitivity and 95.7% specificity from approximately 5 L of whole blood obtained by fingerstick.
Of the 372 children who were tested, 59% received a negative result, whereas 41% were found to have had a case of dengue. The researchers estimated the seroprevalence among children aged 9 to 13 years to be 51%.
“Other U.S. jurisdictions with endemic transmission of dengue virus should evaluate the risks, benefits, and feasibility of incorporating the dengue vaccine into their local vaccine schedule and consider serosurveys to guide this evaluation,” they wrote.
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