epidemiology
Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold within the last 50 years.
Approximately 2.5 billion people (or two fifths of the world’s population) live in countries where there is a risk of dengue infection.
- dengue is endemic in at least 100 countries in Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and the Caribbean.
- more than 70% of the population at risk (1.8 billion) live in member states of the WHO South-East Asia Region (e.g. - Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand) and Western Pacific Region (e.g. - Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Viet Nam)
- this region bear nearly 75% of the current global disease burden (1,2)
- in Europe, most cases have been reported either as incidents in overseas territories or importations from endemic countries
An estimated 50 – 100 million dengue infections occur annually (some estimates the dengue burden to be around 390 million infections/year, which is more than three times the estimate of the WHO)(3)
- hospital admission for dengue haemorrhagic fever was reported in 0.5 million of these cases
- children aged less than 5 years are affected in 90% of these cases
- severe manifestations (e.g. - dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome) are increasingly recognised in regions which were previously unaffected
- in the US, re-emergence of dengue after 56 years has been reported
- 796 cases were reported from 2001 to 2007
- in the UK, all cases of dengue have been due to travel to endemic areas
- the Health Protection Agency reported 406 cases of dengue fever in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 2010, compared with 166 in 2009 (1,2).
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