An ecological survey of dengue vector mosquitos was carried out in June 2000 in central Lao PDR. Two areas in Khammouane Province, Nongbok and Thakhek, were selected for the survey. Of the 7 mosquito species identified, Aedes aegypti was dominant in both study areas. The container index for Ae. aegypti in Nongbok was 51.8% and was significantly higher than that of Thakhek (40.2%); moreover, sig...

BACKGROUND Dengue viruses and their mosquito vectors are sensitive to their environment. Temperature, rainfall and humidity have well-defined roles in the transmission cycle. Therefore changes in these conditions may contribute to increasing incidence. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between weather factors and dengue incidence in three provinces in Cambodia, in order to s...

Biological control is the deliberate use of natural enemies to reduce the number of pest organisms. It comprises methods that have gained acceptance for controlling nuisance arthropods partly due to the emergence of insecticide resistance and also because people have become more aware about the need to limit environmental pollution. In the case of arthropod-borne disease vectors, biological con...

BACKGROUND The infectious dose required to infect mosquito vectors when they take a blood meal from a viremic person is a critical parameter underlying the probability of dengue virus (DENV) transmission. Because experimental vector competence studies typically examine the proportion of mosquitoes that become infected at intermediate or high DENV infectious doses in the blood meal, the minimum ...

Considerable attention has recently been drawn at the global level to the serious threat to humans caused by new, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Among the infectious vector-borne diseases, dengue, dengue haemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, plague, malaria, leishmaniasis, rodent-borne viruses and arboviruses are considered to be persisting, and sometimes re-emerging, with serious th...

Recent reports have shown that the dengue virus (DENV) is a serious concern worldwide, especially in subtropical areas such as South-East Asia. With the development of transportation systems, the risk of DENV infection spreading is increasing. Since mosquitoes transmit DENV to humans, surveillance of DENV-infected mosquito vectors is the most effective approach for preventing DENV. Okinawa is t...

Dengue fever, caused by dengue virus (DENV), is endemic in more than 100 countries. The lack of effective treatment of patients and the suboptimal efficacies of the tetravalent vaccine in trials highlight the urgent need to develop alternative strategies to lessen the burden of dengue fever.Wolbachia pipientis, an obligate intracellular bacterium, is being developed as a biocontrol strategy aga...

Dengue prevention efforts rely on control of virus vectors. We investigated use of insecticide-treated screens permanently affixed to windows and doors in Mexico and found that the screens significantly reduced infestations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in treated houses. Our findings demonstrate the value of this method for dengue virus vector control.

Dengue viruses are members of the Flaviviridae, transmitted principally in a cycle involving humans and mosquito vectors. In the last 20 years the incidence of dengue fever epidemics has increased and hyperendemic transmission has been established over a geographically expanding area. A severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), is an immunopathologic disease occurring in persons who experien...

Historically, Aedes aegypti has been one of the most important mosquito vectors of human disease. A native of Africa, it was introduced to the Americas in the 1600s by the slave trade, and became highly domesticated, adapted to humans, and a highly efficient vector of epidemic yellow fever and dengue. As the shipping industry expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries, Ae. aegypti was transported ...