Epidemiology of dengue in Portugal – a portrait

Abstract

Dengue is a systemic infectious disease of viral etiology transmitted through the bite of female hematophagous mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, with Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus being the most competent species for its transmission [1-4]. Dengue virus (VDEN) taxonomically belongs to the family Flaviviridae and the genus flavivirus [5-8]. To date, four antigenically differentiated serotypes - VDEN-1, VDEN-2, VDEN-3 and VDEN-4 - have been reported based on biological, immunological and molecular criteria [8,9]. Among all arboviruses, VDEN is by far the pathogen that most affects humans [10-13]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the last 50 years the incidence of Dengue cases has increased by about 30 times, and it is estimated that there are currently between 50 and 100 million infections annually [10]. The disease is widespread in all tropical and subtropical regions of the planet, with a growing incidence in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific region [10,14]. It is estimated that approximately 2.5 billion people live at risk of contracting the disease in endemic countries [10,13]. Around 120 million people travel to affected areas each year, with travellers playing a key role in the geographical spread of the disease (the return of infected travellers from Dengue-endemic countries can establish autochthonous cycles of infection) [15,16, 17].

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevenIIImulti2023-226