Researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, Institut de Pasteur in Cambodia, and the
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) conducted a study showing that people who have asymptomatic dengue fever transmit the virus to mosquitoes when bitten.
These individuals who do not have any clinical symptoms of the virus, as well as mildly symptomatic people, add up to three-quarters of the entire population of dengue fever cases.
Currently, there are 390 million people infected with the virus around the world each year.
“This finding raises the possibility that people with few or no symptoms — in other words the majority of those infected by dengue — may actually be contributing to the spread of the virus without realizing it,” Louis Lambrechts, a CNRS scientist in charge of the Insect-Virus Interactions Group at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, said.
This 75 percent may be part of the virus’ spread, and these
research results may alter how scientists understand the epidemiology of dengue fever.
“These data should lead us to revisit our approach to the early management of dengue epidemics,” Veasna Duong, a scientist in the Virology Unit directed by Philippe Buchy at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia, said. “Transmission rate estimates will also have to be adjusted to ensure sufficient vaccination coverage for the vaccines currently under development.”
