Context
Amid a rise in dengue cases ahead of the onset of winter, the Centre has dispatched experts to nine states to bolster efforts to contain the mosquito-borne disease.
What is Dengue?
- Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease that has rapidly spread in all regions.
- Transmitted by: Dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. albopictus.
- These mosquitoes are also vectors of chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses.
- Virus: The dengue virus, or DENV, that causes the disease has four distinct but closely related, variants, known as:
- DENV-1
- DENV-2
- DENV-3
- DENV-4
- Dengue is widespread throughout the tropics, with local variations in risk influenced by rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and unplanned rapid urbanization.
How does it spread?
- Mosquitoes “generally acquire the virus while feeding on the blood of an infected person.
- After an incubation period that lasts between 8-10 days, an infected mosquito can spread the virus to people for the rest of its life.
- Humans are the main host of the virus, although monkeys have been found to pick up the infection in some parts of the world.
