Is Previous Covid 19 Infection a Boon or Bane for Dengue Patient? - A Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Aims: To study the impact of past COVID 19 infections on various hematological parameters and morbidity in patients with active dengue infection by assessing days of hospital stay, platelet transfusion etc.

Study Design: Prospective study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pathology, Baba Raghav Das Medical college, Gorakhpur, India between June 2022 to November 2022.

Methodology: 189 patients with active dengue infection, proven on Dengue ELISA for IgM detection, were included in this prospective study. Hematological parameters along with demographic profiles and clinicopathological details were recorded for the patients at the time of admission.

Results: The mean age was comparable between the two groups, dengue patients with history of COVID 19 (Group A) being 26.93±14.27 years and dengue patients with no history of COVID 19 (Group B) being 28.52±17.65 years. Group A patients were found to have higher mean platelet count [68200.00±28153.33] than Group B patients [54181.21±31792.06]. The fatality rate was 2.68% in the Group A patients and 5% in the group B.

Conclusion: Our research indicates that individuals with a history of COVID-19 infection have reduced dengue mortality. However, we cannot presume a causal association between dengue and COVID-19 infection prognosis.