Since August this year, over 9,000 people from 65 of Nepal’s 77 districts have been diagnosed with dengue, including six patients who have died, in an unprecedented outbreak of the disease. High altitudes are thought to have precluded the Aedes mosquito from becoming established in Nepal and surrounding regions, but some believe that climate change may be to blame for changes in environment which enabled a recent dengue outbreak. Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun is a senior infectious di

My name is Yibeltal Akelew and I'm from the Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology School of Biomedical and Laboratory Science, Debre Markos University, Ethiopia. Despite outbreak reports and some serological surveys, the dengue virus is the most significant under-recognized arbovirus in Ethiopia. I have been working on a project looking at acute fever for a masters thesis in Ethiopia that mainly focuses on arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever), bacteria

In November this year, the Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda inaugurated its first dengue vaccine manufacturing plant in Singen, Germany. The Singen vaccine plant ultimately aims to offer end-to-end production of the vaccine, including formulation, fill, finish and secondary packaging of the current Takeda dengue vaccine candidate. This plant is located on the premises of one out of 34 production sites of Takeda’s extensive network in 20 different countries serving a wide r

Environmental management and protection from insect bites remain some of the main strategies shared with communities to prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and break transmission cycles. The search for effective novel tools for the protection from mosquitoes is ongoing, with researchers increasingly exploring alternatives to existing insecticides and repellents. Applying insect repellent remains one of the most favoured strategies chosen by individuals to protect t

The mosquito species that can transmit dengue tend to remain close to their breeding sites and have low mobility - comparatively, the impact of human mobility in the transmission of this disease is substantial, in particular given that these mosquitoes are prone to establishing themselves in densely populated urban areas. In dengue patients, the symptoms of the illness have a strong impact on the mobility choices of infectious individuals. Recent research has looked at the da

Vector control and environmental management are crucial aspects of dengue control, with professionals in the field delivering these interventions as thoroughly as possible and providing an essential link between communities and the health and prevention sector. However, a number of challenges mean that it can remain difficult to maintain staff numbers and momentum in these positions - globally, technical knowledge of vectors can remain insufficient, training opportunities are

Dengue fever was first recorded in Pakistan in 1982, with about a dozen cases confirmed. The disease has been spreading in scope and intensity over the last few decades, with a major outbreak in 2010 launching a new period of frequent and severe outbreaks for this high burden country. Efforts are being stepped up to both prevent infections within communities as well as harness numerous and innovative approaches to predict when and where outbreaks might occur to best channel r

In addition to personal protection against mosquito bites and the chemical control of mosquitoes and their larvae, the removal of common breeding sites is one of the most important and effective steps in controlling mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit. Recent research has sought to use geotagged images obtained through Google's Street View to map the most common types of open containers in order to facilitate and accelerate the detection of these and generate a decision

This week, French health authorities including the local Agence Régionale de Santé Auvergne Rhône-Alpes have confirmed the first case of autochthonous dengue in the Rhône region of France. Auvergne Rhône-Alpes is a large region of France, bordering with Switzerland and Italy to the east, and includes several important urban centres including the city of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble. Serological tests confirmed that one patient was indeed locally infected with the dengue v

The 4th Asia Dengue Summit took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, in July 2019, bringing together dengue experts from academies and research institutions, representatives from Ministries of Health, the regional and global World Health Organization (WHO) and numerous national and international groups who participated to provide a broad overview of the current status of dengue and its management across Asia. As part of the summit, Kamran Rafiq, co-founder and Communications Director