Dengue and COVID-19 co-infections: an important consideration in the tropics


 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has affected >370 million individuals worldwide. Dengue is endemic in many countries and leads to epidemics at frequent intervals. In the tropics and subtropics, it is possible that individuals may be concurrently infected with both dengue and SARS-CoV-2. Differentiation between the two infections may be difficult from both a clinical and laboratory perspective. We have outlined the currently published findings (as of the end of December 2021) on patients with dengue and SARS-CoV-2 co-infections and have discussed the observed outcomes and management of such patients. Co-infections were more common in males >25 y of age, fever was not universal, 30–50% had medical comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus or hypertension and the case fatality rate was 16–28%.