Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Mar 30:3:70.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2012.00070. eCollection 2012.

Eventual role of asymptomatic cases of dengue for the introduction and spread of dengue viruses in non-endemic regions

Claude Chastel  1
Affiliations

Eventual role of asymptomatic cases of dengue for the introduction and spread of dengue viruses in non-endemic regions

Claude Chastel. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

In dengue virus infections the asymptomatic cases are much more frequent than the symptomatic ones, but their true role in the introduction and subsequent spread of dengue viruses in non-endemic regions remains to de clarified. We analyzed data from English and French literatures to assess if viremia in asymptomatic dengue infections might be sufficient to represent a true risk. During outbreaks of dengue a large number of individuals are infected and since viremia levels in symptomatic patients are known to vary by many orders of magnitude, it is reasonable to augur that a proportion of asymptomatic cases might reach levels of viremia sufficient to infect competent mosquitoes. In addition, a number of new ways of contamination in man by dengue viruses were recently described such as blood transfusion, bone marrow transplantation, and nosocomial infections that may be worth considering.

Keywords: asymptomatic infections; dengue virus infection; disease severity; infected travelers; viremia.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Baaten G. G. G., Sonder G. J. B., Zaaijer H. L., van Gool T., Kint J. A., van den Hoek A. (2011). Travel-related dengue virus infections, the Netherlands, 2006–2007. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 17, 821–827 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Balmaseda A., Hammond S. N., Tellez Y., Imhoff L., Rodriguez Y., Saborío S. I., Mercado J. C., Perez L., Videa E., Almanza E., Kuan G., Reyes M., Saenz L., Amador J. J., Harris E. (2006). High seroprevalence of antibodies against dengue virus in a prospective study of schoolchildren in Managua, Nicaragua. Trop. Med. Int. Health 11, 935–94210.1111/j.1365-3156.2006.01641.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barklay E. (2008). Is climate change affecting dengue in Americas? Lancet 371, 973–97410.1016/S0140-6736(08)60435-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Beckett G. G., Kosasih H., Faisal I., Nurhayati, Tan R., Widjaja S., Listiyaningsih E., Ma’Roef C., Wuryadi S., Bangs M. J., Samsi T. K., Yuwono D., Hayes C. G., Porter K. R. (2005). Early detection of dengue infections using cluster sampling around index cases. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 72, 777–782 - PubMed
    1. Burke D. S., Nisalak A., Johnson D. E., Scott R. M. (1988). A prospective study of dengue infections in Bangkok. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 38, 172–180 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources