Dengue virus non-structural Protein-1 expression and associated risk factors among febrile Patients attending University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

•Dengue virus is hyperendemic in Nigeria. Abuja attracts many foreign tourists and United Nation’s diplomatic corps.•Human racial background is an important predisposing factor for contracting severe dengue.•It is important to have an accurate prevalence data of acute dengue virus infection in Abuja.•This will help to speculate possibility of humans-to-mosquitoes-humans transmission of dengue across individuals of different racial background. Dengue is a mosquito-borne and neglected tropical viral disease that has been reported to be hyper-endemic in Nigeria. However, this is the first dengue study in Abuja. This hospital-based cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of Dengue virus (DENV) non-structural protein-1 (NS1) antigenaemia, anti-Dengue virus IgG and their associated risk factors among febrile patients attending the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Nigeria. From May to August 2016, blood samples were individually collected from 171 consented participants. These samples were analyzed using DENV NS1 and anti-DENV IgG Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits. Well-structured questionnaires was used to collect sociodemographic variables of participants. Out of the 171 participants, the prevalence of Dengue virus NS1 antigenaemia and IgG seropositivity were 8.8% and 43.3%, respectively. Three (1.8%) of the patients were NS1 (+) IgG (−), 12 (7.0%) had NS1 (+) IgG (+), 62 (36.3%) were NS1 (−) IgG (+), while 97 (56.7%) of the remaining patients were NS1 (−) IgG (−). There was statistical association between DENV NS1 antigenaemia with age of patients (p=0.034), residence in proximity to waste dumpsites (p