Experts Triple Estimate of Dengue Fever Infections Ben Hirschler - Reuters
go to original April 8, 2013

Dengue is a potentially fatal disease spread by infected female mosquitoes of the Aedes aegypti species. Bed nets are of little use because this species of mosquito also bites during the day. With no vaccine and more than 2.5 billion people worldwide at risk of infection, new methods to prevent the spread of this debilitating disease are urgently needed. (Wellcome Trust)

Around 390 million people are infected each year with dengue fever - the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease - more than triple the current estimate by the World Health Organization, experts said on Sunday.

The new finding, based on several years of analysis, underscores the growing burden of the mosquito-borne viral disease, which is also called "breakbone fever" because of the severe pain it can cause.

There is as yet no approved vaccine or specific drug to treat dengue, which is not normally fatal but lands many victims in hospital.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust presented their results, along with a detailed map of dengue distribution, in the journal Nature.

Their new figure includes 96 million severe cases and approximately 300 million mild or asymptomatic episodes. That compares with the WHO's most recent estimate for overall infections of 50-100 million a year.

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