Epidemiology of dengue, its prevention and control in India.

This journal article discusses the epidemiology and transmission of dengue by the mosquito Aedes aegypti its prevention and control specifically in India. Dengue fever (DF) dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) represent a spectrum of disease resulting from infection with the dengue virus the spread of which is attributed to expanding geographic distribution of the dengue viruses and of their mosquito vectors. The article introduces DF as the most important re-emerging mosquito-borne viral disease as it is an ecological disease and the risk of virus transmission is greater during the rainy season. In India disease prevalence was observed mostly in urban areas but the trend is now changing due to socio-economic and man-made ecological changes resulting in the invasion of Ae aegypti mosquitoes into the rural areas. The spread of virus serotypes and genotypes to new areas increases the risk of sever dengue; reports of outbreaks annual morbidity trends and fatality rates in various states and Union Territories are depicted in the article. The article discusses the difficulties in controlling dengue outbreaks interrupting or reducing transmission and reducing or eliminating the breeding sites of the vector mosquito at the individual family and community levels. The absence of any drug vaccine or effective prevention method including indoor residual spray and insecticide call for enhanced surveillance methods. Recommendations for the government of India to prepare a long term action plan for prevention and control envisioning a proactive surveillance system that will permit prediction of dengue outbreak through Sentinel Surveillance Hospitals are discussed.