Background: Dengue fever is a vector-borne disease that raises a major public health problem worldwide,
particularly in Burkina Faso. The gold standard diagnosis is based on the research of viral RNA by reverse
transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) during the first days, or the presence of specific
immunoglobulin M (IgM) by serological tests or the isolation of the virus. Burkina Faso reported a localized
outbreak of dengue fever in 2016. This study aimed to evaluate dengue fever seroprevalence among children
aged 0-5 years.
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study which covered the period from January 2016 to
December 2019 and involved 621 suspected cases of children aged 0-5 years at the Charles de Gaulle
University Paediatric Hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from
Results: Of the suspected cases,189 were confirmed positive to dengue fever with a seroprevalence of 30.47%.
Among positive cases, young children (1 to 29 months age group) were the most represented, with a sex ratio
(M/F) of 1.15 in favor of males (53.44%) of dengue cases. Clinical symptoms were polymorphous. Fever
(86.24%), algic syndrome (75.13%) and vomiting (46.03%) were the most frequent clinical manifestations. The
majority of patients (28.57%) had positive IgG serology. The main biological feature was thrombocytopenia
(26.50%), (p=0.039).
Conclusion: This study confirms the emergence of this disease in young children, as mentioned in previous
studies. Improving the technical facilities in our hospitals, providing ongoing training for healthcare workers
in the management of this disease and disseminating the national protocol for the management of dengue fever
could improve the situation.

Seroprevalence, Dengue Fever, Children, Burkina Faso