A study conducted among the residents of Singapore revealed that patients who recovered from dengue have a higher risk of suffering long-term health issues than those who recovered from COVID-19 in the year following the first infection.
According to the study, patients with dengue have a 55 per cent higher risk of having heart issues, such as an abnormal heartbeat rhythm and blood clots, than people infected with the viral COVID-19, PTI reports.
COVID-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, whereas dengue is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito.
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore discovered that dengue patients had a roughly 200 per cent higher risk of cognition or memory impairments, as well as mobility issues, than COVID-19 patients.
The study, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, examined the testing and medical insurance claims of over 11,700 dengue patients and over 12 lakh COVID-19 patients.
The researchers searched for additional heart, brain, and immune system abnormalities that developed within a month to 300 days (less than a year) following the first infection.
"Dengue is one of the most common vector-borne diseases globally, and long-term health issues resulting from dengue can substantially increase the healthcare burdens of the infected person and the country," lead author Lim Jue Tao, an Assistant Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at Nanyang Technological University, said.
According to the authors, this is the first study to look at the long-term risk of developing health issues after a dengue infection and compare it to that of a COVID-19 infection.
Older research by the team found an elevated risk of similar long-term health consequences in both dengue and COVID-19 individuals.
"Overall, our study underscores the need for people to guard against dengue in their environment and can be a resource to support public health planning," Jue Tao said.
Of the subjects, 0.5 per cent in the COVID-19 group and 0.9 per cent in the dengue group experienced heart-related problems.
According to the authors, 0.2 per cent of the COVID-19 group and 0.3 per cent of the dengue group experienced movement-related issues, while 0.3 per cent of the dengue group and 0.1 per cent of the COVID-19 group experienced cognitive and memory impairments.
