The infection geography of dengue, which was restricted to eight States in 2001, currently covers all the States and Union Territories in India.
Key points
- Dengue has now breached the country’s last bastion, Ladakh (with two cases in 2022).
- The southwest monsoon is associated with the rise of certain diseases, including malaria, dengue and Zika.
- The dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes, mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and to a lesser extent, Aedes albopictus. These mosquitoes are also vectors of the chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses.
- In India, Zika grew from miniscule numbers in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and is now being reported from 11 States (Punjab Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand, Telangana and Tamil Nadu).
- The World Health Organization estimates the global incidence of dengue has grown over recent decades, with half of the world population now at risk.
- The risk due to dengue, which is now endemic in more than 100 countries, has been propelled by several factors, including climate change, increased urbanisation (where environments are temperature controlled), and increased travel.
- The problems in the control of Aedes borne disease are manyfold. Day biting habit, multiple biting, long incubation period, fast transport, eggs retained up to one year, container breeding, human environment, and intermittent water supply and poor waste management at construction sites add to the problem.
- The dengue vector is very different from the malaria vector and so, bio-environmental strategies alone will not work. This, coupled with the shortage of entomologists in the country, works to help the spread of dengue.
