Air Travel Spreads Dengue From One Region To Another

Dengue, one of the mosquito-causing disease has declined in the number of new cases in the past decade. But the outbreaks have increased now and the spread f dengue to new areas is likely due in large part to trends in air travel. Dengue //virus affects as estimated 390 million people around the globe each year, and can cause symptoms ranging from a mild fever and headache to severe low blood pressure.

The virus has mostly caused disease in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, but a 2014 outbreak in Japan broke that pattern. Overall, the geographic area affected by dengue has been growing in recent years.

In the new work, Huaiyu Tian and Bing Xu, both of Beijing Normal University, China, together with colleagues from the University of Oxford and elsewhere analyzed the spread of dengue viruses in Asia from 1956 to 2015.

They used 2,202 genetic sequences of dengue viruses, collected in 20 countries or regions of Asia over the 59 years, to determine how different strains were related. They also investigated trends in air travel, maritime mobility, migration, and socio-economics to determine what factors impact the spread of dengue.

The spread of three different dengue virus serotypes, DENV-1, -2, and -3, is associated with air traffic more so than any other factors, the data revealed. Air traffic hubs such as Thailand and India, the researchers found, help seed dengue epidemics, while China, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Singapore help diffuse the virus to other Asian countries.

"Future trends in global mobility could potentially accelerate the appearance and diffusion of DENV worldwide," the researchers say. "Prevention and control of dengue epidemics requires a better understanding of its mode of geographic dissemination, especially for countries in the tropics."

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Source-Eurekalert