Dengue disease is caused by the four serotypes of mosquito-borne dengue virus (DENV1-4), positive-sense RNA viruses belonging to the genus Flavivirus. Escalation of the dengue pandemic can largely be attributed to three factors: (i) increased urbanization and consequent urban detritus and population density leading to enhanced vector breeding and increased contact between humans and vectors, (ii) global invasion of the major mosquito vectors, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, leading to geographic spread and geographic overlap of all four dengue virus serotypes and (iii) interaction and evolution of the four serotypes themselves, resulting in greater disease severity. As a result of these changes, DENV is now the most common arboviral infection of humans in the subtropical and subtropical regions of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.5 billion people are risk from dengue with 50 million dengue infections worldwide every year. In 2007, there were more than 890,000 reported cases of dengue in the Americas, approximately 26,000 of which were the most severe form, dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). The WHO reports that dengue disease is endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific, with South-East Asia and the Western Pacific the most seriously affected. Approximately 500,000 people with DHF require hospitalization each year, of whom 2.5% die.


from Endy et al. in Frontiers in Dengue Virus Research

Labels: Aedes albopictus, Arboviral infection, Mosquito-borne virus