The rise and spread of Dengue and its vectors in India: A Review

Abstract

The dengue as an illness has been recognized for more than 200 years and the role of Aedes aegypti as the

vector of this arbovirus has been known for the last 90 years. About half of the world's population is now

infected with an estimated 100–400 million new infections occurring each year. Dengue is found in tropical and

sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban, semi-urban and rural regions. The first reference of dengue

was mentioned in Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata in 1871 and after that reported from Ganges valley as far as

Ludhiana , Kerala coast and from Calicut to Quilon. The dengue vector Aedes aegypti was also distributed all

over India in 1934s in a faunistic survey done by Barraud. . The vector species was even reported from all over

India and even from Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. The species was also confirmed by the following

surveys. In India dengue was first reported and documented in 1956 from Vellore. Thereafter, there was an

outbreak in Kolkata during 1960s. During this period, reports of Chikungunya spread was also seen in different

parts of the country, potentially because both viruses were circulating in the same place at the same time.

Following that, an epidemic of haemorrhagic fever was reported in Kolkata in 1963 and febrile illness in Nagpur

city in Maharashtra during 1965. 50% of the infected population were affected by severe joint and body pain.

Now dengue is endemic in the country and reported in 36 states/UTs . The cases of dengue increased from

101,192 in 2018 to ,233,251 in 2022. Similarly dengue deaths also increased from 172 (2018) to 303 (2022).