abdoalsir/malaria-dengue-coinfection-port-sudan-2025

Hospital-based cross-sectional study of malaria–dengue coinfection prevalence and clinical outcomes among 157 febrile patients at Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, 2025; chi-square, ANOVA, Cohen's kappa, logistic regression, and thematic analysis of 16 key informant interviews. # Prevalence of Malaria–Dengue Coinfection Among Febrile Patients, Port Sudan Teaching Hospital – 2025 ## Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, Red Sea State, Eastern Sudan – 2025 **Study type:** Hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study **Degree level:** Clinical MD (Family Medicine), Sudan Medical Specialization Board **Institution:** Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, Red Sea State **Sample size:** N = 157 febrile patients **Data analyst:** Abdulrahman Sirelkhatim --- ## Background Malaria and dengue fever are among the most significant vector-borne diseases in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and Sudan carries a substantial burden of both. Plasmodium falciparum malaria is hyperendemic in the eastern states of Sudan, particularly in Red Sea and Gedaref, with transmission peaking during and immediately after the rainy season. Dengue virus has been documented in Sudan since 1986 and has become increasingly prevalent in coastal urban centres such as Port Sudan, driven by rapid urbanisation, inadequate vector control, and poor water sanitation. A 2020 study in Port Sudan reported dengue seroprevalence exceeding 21% among febrile patients, indicating wide-scale transmission. The simultaneous endemicity of both diseases in Port Sudan creates conditions in which febrile patients may be coinfected with Plasmodium and dengue virus at the same time. Both illnesses share nearly identical early presentations — fever, headache, myalgia, nausea, and chills — making clinical differentiation difficult and leading to empirical treatment of febrile illness as malaria without systematic dengue testing. Coinfected patients are thought to experience worse outcomes than those with either infection alone, including thrombocytopenia, haemorrhagic complications, liver dysfunction, and longer hospital stays, yet the evidence base from Sudan remains very limited. This study provides the first local quantitative and qualitative evidence on the burden of malaria–dengue …