Update on dengue in Africa.

ABSTRACT

Dengue fever is a major public health problem worldwide, being considered one of the most important re-emerging diseases of today. Dengue viruses and their mosquito vectors, while being widely spread across all tropical and subtropical regions of the world, have recently emerged in temperate regions as well. In Africa, both the virus and the vector mosquitoes exist, but, unlike in Asia or South America, human dengue cases have been identified only occasionally, without reports of severe outbreaks, until a few years ago. Recent episodes in the African continent evidenced the lack of effective and reliable programmes for surveillance and control of dengue outbreaks. This paper tries to give a brief overview of the current status of dengue in Africa and to assess the main risk factors for any massive outbreaks in the future, while outlining the currently envisaged strategies to face this emergent threat.