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Half the world is at risk of dengue. Why is there no universal way to prevent it?

Break-bone fever. Break heart fever. Seven-day fever. They are all names for the painful — often debilitating and sometimes deadly — mosquito-borne disease called dengue fever. Dengue can cause high fever, nausea, rash, body aches, and stiff movements, and can leave patients suffering from depression and fatigue in its wake...

While dengue fever isn’t as deadly as other mosquito-borne viruses — such as Japanese encephalitis, a dengue-related virus found in southern and eastern Asia — large outbreaks can quickly overwhelm health care systems, worsening the toll of other illnesses and medical problems. “It’s one of those rare diseases that impact families, impacts communities, and…

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Featured

  Dengue Outbreaks

A recent study published by the Royal Society indicates that dengue-carrying mosquitoes are expanding their range by an average of 6.5 meters of elevation and have moved polewards by 4.7 km annually.

 The Push for a Better Dengue Vaccine Grows More Urgent

A public research institute in Brazil has proved a new shot protects against the disease, but can’t make it fast enough to stop the huge outbreak sweeping Latin America.

 The world is in the grip of a record dengue fever outbreak. What's causing it and how can it be stopped?

The current dengue crisis serves as a stark reminder of our global interconnectedness and the shared vulnerabilities we face in an era of climate change and rapid urbanization. It calls for a renewed commitment to public health, environmental stewardship, and international solidarity. Only through sustained, collaborative efforts can we turn the tide against dengue and build a more resilient global health system capable of responding to the challenges of our changing world.

Articles of Interest

Dengue

~1/2 of the world’s population lives in areas with dengue risk. Dengue is common in popular tourist destinations such as the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Africa.

Dengue fever is surging worldwide. A hotter planet will make it worse

Climate change helped fuel an explosion of dengue cases in the Americas, including Puerto Rico, as mosquitoes multiply in warmer, wetter weather.

Down With Dengue

Today's post is not exactly chemical per se, but it's very promising news on the anti-infectives front. Dengue fever is a viral disease whose range has been extending in recent years, very likely as a result of changes in the climate (it was formerly considered more of a tropical disease). It's yet another mosquito-carried one, and it has been difficult to come up with either small-molecule drugs against it or effective vaccines. The latter tactic has been made more difficult by there being four distinct serotypes of dengue, and (famously) the first vaccine marketed (Dengevaxia) causes antibody-dependent enhancement of disease (ADE). That is, if you've had dengue before the vaccine can be useful, but if you immune system has never been exposed to it, vaccination with Dengevaxia can actually make your first exposure worse. Which is a very bad outcome, needless to say.

How Dengue, a Deadly Mosquito-Borne Disease, Could Spread in a Warming World

Globally, the study estimated that more than two billion additional people could be at risk for dengue in 2080 compared with 2015 under a warming scenario roughly representative of the world's current emissions trajectory. That increase largely comes from population growth in areas already at high risk for the disease, as well as the expansion of dengue’s range.

The Increasing Burden of Dengue Fever in a Changing Climate

Warming temperatures and unprecedented flooding have also encouraged the spread of mosquitos well beyond their traditional breeding grounds, bringing dengue fever, malaria and the Zika virus to areas never before threatened by these debilitating illnesses.

A dengue vaccine? Duke-NUS scientists identify new findings in a key protein that may help

Currently, there is one globally approved vaccine, which contains a cocktail that presents four different serotypes chimeric dengue particles, but it is only partly effective and works only on those who have been infected by the dengue virus before.

A ‘perfect storm’: the steady rise of dengue fever worldwide

Dengue outbreaks are spreading across the globe thanks to a “perfect storm” of climate change, rapid urbanisation and intercontinental travel, experts have warned.

Ask the Experts: Dengue

There are four dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4), all of which circulate globally. The four dengue virus serotypes are closely related but can be differentiated on serologic tests. Infection with one serotype generally produces long-lived immunity to that serotype, but only provides short-lived protection against infection with other serotypes. For this reason, a person can be infected with DENV as many as four times in their lifetime.

Breeding Special Mosquitoes to Fight Dengue

Scientists bred the mosquitoes. The small insects carry bacteria called Wolbachia that stop the spread of the disease. When these mosquitoes reproduce, they pass on the bacteria and reduce future outbreaks.

C.D.C. Warns Doctors About Dengue as Virus Spreads to New Regions

Cases of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral illness that can be fatal, are surging around the world. The increase is occurring both in places that have long struggled with the disease and in areas where its spread was unheard-of until the last year or two, including France, Italy and Chad, in Central Africa.

Can GM mosquitoes rid the world of a major killer?

Dengue fever, borne by mosquitoes, kills around 20,000 people a year. Oxford-based scientists think they can solve the problem by disrupting breeding in high-risk areas with genetically modified insects. But is that safe?

Dengue Fever 101: How Serious Is This Disease?

The painful disease has been around for centuries but began a dramatic upswing in the 1980s. In the Americas alone, the annual number of cases has boomed from 520,000 in 2003 to 2.3 million in 2013.

Dengue Fever Is Spreading With Climate Change and Urbanization

The mosquito-borne disease is on the rise even in countries with no history of dengue epidemics.

Dengue Fever-- Something You Don't Want To Bring Back From A Vacation

I didn't buy any souvenirs on my recent trip to the Yucatán. Mostly what they sell visitors to Mérida are hammocks and Guayabera shirts. I took something else home instead-- Dengue fever, an infectious tropical disease transmitted by mosquitoes. It's different from the deadly dengue hemorrhagic fever, which I don't have. The one I have takes a week or two and you're better... or so my doctor says.

Dengue, aka “Breakbone Fever,” Is Back

The vicious virus has re-established itself in the South, and mosquitoes are carrying it north.

Eliminate Dengue

This project completed in July 2017. The Eliminate Dengue project (now known as the World Mosquito Program) is a continuation of research initiated under the FNIH’s Vector-based Control of Transmission: Discovery Research (VCTR) program, which is an extension of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. Dengue is a disabling and sometimes deadly viral infection that causes high fever, intense muscle pain and bleeding

Explainer: what are antibodies and why are viruses like dengue worse the second time?

Zika virus is a flavivirus, similar to dengue. In fact, for people infected with the virus, infection is indistinguishable from dengue using classic antibody tests. This made scientists wonder: could prior infection with Zika cause an antibody-dependent enhancement response following dengue infection or vice versa?

Genetically Modified Mosquitos Massively Reduce Dengue Fever Risk

Test in Brazilian city Juazeiro is most successful trial of altered skeeters ever.

How a Tiny Bacterium Called Wolbachia Could Defeat Dengue

Scientists are immunizing mosquitoes against disease with the help of a common microbe.

How siRNA Protects Mosquitoes from Viral Infections Like Zika and Dengue

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmit viruses that are responsible for a significant global public health burden such as Zika, dengue, and yellow fever. Now, researchers found that an Ae. aegypti protein, Argonaute 2, has a key role—via several biological mechanisms—in keeping mosquitoes healthy and active despite these infections. These findings could lead to better methods for reducing the mosquito-to-human transmission of viruses.

Humans are genetically modifying mosquitoes to fight a disease we helped create

The fear that DHF could put a stop to Key West’s endless party is why the local government is proposing something radical: the first trial of genetically modified mosquitoes on US soil.

I Have Dengue Fever, And It Sucks

The virus started with a fever, chills, and headaches. Suddenly my hands & feet erupted with red dots and began to hurt. I was infected with Dengue Fever & didn’t know it.

Inside the dengue ward in the Philippines

Most dengue patients recover if the infection is detected and treated early.

Mexico Approves Sanofi’s Dengue Vaccine but Pricing Questions Remain

Immunization can go ahead but affordability in middle-income countries remains an issue.

My Battle With Dengue Fever In India

Heat, hassle, constant staring and culture shock, just another day in India. Until something that up until that point I assumed would never happen did. I caught dengue fever, and it knocked me on my arse so hard I didn’t know what had hit me.

Project to fight dengue fever proves a sustainable success

Since the program began there has been a decrease in the number of dengue cases. While it is too early to claim the decrease is a direct outcome of their efforts, Geana said an entomological count of mosquitoes at the beginning of the work, compared with an upcoming count, will at least show how effective the garbage removal efforts have been in reducing the number of mosquitoes.

Risk Of Dengue Fever Increases Due To Climate Change And Urbanization, Researchers Find

Large parts of Europe, West and Central Africa, and South America face the threat of outbreaks of the deadly dengue virus due to climate change and urbanization, according to the first-ever maps of dengue vulnerability published on Tuesday.

The billion-dollar disease

India is not alone in suffering from dengue. Brazil, for example, endures high rates of infection, and the disease is a threat in much of the rest of South and South-East Asia.

The Boy Was Feverish, With a Swollen Testicle. What Could He Possibly Have?

Test results indicated that the boy had had dengue fever. And for reasons that are only beginning to be understood, a second infection of the dengue virus is often much worse than the first. A small percentage of those who have already been infected are eight times as likely to develop a potentially deadly form of the disease — dengue shock syndrome — should they ever get it again.

The Mosquito Solution

Can genetic modification eliminate a deadly tropical disease?

Why I Gave My Blood to Defeat Dengue

Researchers at the university are part of a global effort exploring whether a bacterium called Wolbachia can be used to control dengue. Wolbachia occurs naturally in 70 percent of all insects, and it is harmless to humans. But it can block the transmission of dengue by mosquitoes.

Zika Isn't the Mosquito-Borne Virus You Should Fear

Hotez predicts that dengue, chikungunya, and Zika are likely to show up along the US Gulf Coast soon. “On the Gulf Coast, you’ve got the perfect storm of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the warm subtropical climate, and poverty,” he says. That makes it more likely people will live without window screens and near standing water where mosquitoes can breed. And as the climate warms, mosquitos are only going to move farther and farther north, potentially bringing these diseases with them.

Zika, dengue, and yellow fever are about to get much worse

Urbanization, transportation, and climate change are rapidly expanding mosquito habitats. That’s bad news.

Resources

Break Dengue

Let´s connect patients, governments, NGOs, doctors, the pharmaceutical industry and other stakeholders wherever they might be in the world. And let´s work together towards a common goal: to stop dengue.

DengueMap

This map may be used as a guide for the assessment of dengue risk throughout the world. A lack of recent reports for an area does not indicate that no transmission is occurring, particularly in the areas where dengue viruses are known to be endemic.

World Mosquito Program

The World Mosquito Program uses safe and natural bacteria called Wolbachia to prevent the transmission of mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.

CDC

With more than one-third of the world’s population living in areas at risk for infection, dengue virus is a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics. As many as 400 million people are infected yearly. Dengue is caused by any one of four related viruses transmitted by mosquitoes. There are not yet any vaccines to prevent infection with dengue virus and the most effective protective measures are those that avoid mosquito bites.

MayoClinic

Factors that put you at greater risk of developing dengue fever or a more severe form of the disease include: •Living or traveling in tropical areas. Being in tropical and subtropical areas increases your risk of exposure to the virus that causes dengue fever. Especially high-risk areas are Southeast Asia, the western Pacific islands, Latin America and the Caribbean. •Prior infection with a dengue fever virus. Previous infection with a dengue fever virus increases your risk of having severe symptoms if you're infected again.

MedicineNet

Symptoms include as severe joint and muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, exhaustion, and rash. The presence of fever, rash, and headache (the "dengue triad") is characteristic of dengue fever.

MedlinePlus

Dengue fever is being seen more often in world travelers. Dengue fever should not be confused with Dengue hemorrhagic fever, which is a separate disease that is caused by the same type of virus, but has much more severe symptoms.

NHS

The condition is widespread in areas of the world with a high mosquito population and has been spread by the trade in worn car tyres, which collect water where mosquitoes breed. Typically, dengue occurs in areas that have a combination of: •a warm and humid climate •overcrowding and major urban centres The mosquitoes that spread dengue are rare in England, and cases that develop in the UK occur in travellers who picked up the infection overseas.

Patient

•Dr Benjamin Rush (a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence) in Philadelphia coined the name 'breakbone fever' in 1780. This was the first clear description of dengue fever in English. This was during the first simultaneous reported epidemics in Asia, Africa, and North America of 1779-1780.

WHO

Severe dengue (also known as Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever) was first recognized in the 1950s during dengue epidemics in the Philippines and Thailand. Today, severe dengue affects most Asian and Latin American countries and has become a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in these regions.