Over the past decades, several infectious diseases have increased in incidence and expanded into new geographic areas. There are multiple factors that contribute to the spread of diseases, including increasing urban population, more international travel, and international export and import of goods. Global warming threatens to further increase the spread of many infectious diseases because increase in heat, precipitation and humidity provide better conditions for tropical and subtropical insects to survive. Dengue fever also known as "breakbone fever" is high on the list of mosquito-borne diseases that maybe worsen in time due to global warming. It is a viral disease transmitted from host to host by mosquitoes. Many tropical and subtropical regions of the world are currently combating this disease, including countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. These regions are home to billions of people and are at risk for becoming infected with dengue. The first definitive case of dengue virus infection was report dates from 1789 and even with advanced medical technology there is no vaccine or antiviral medication available for this virus. Currently, it is estimated that, every year, more than 50 million people, mainly in subtropical and tropical areas of the world, get infected by the virus. (limonta) More than 20,000 people, mostly children from Southeast Asia, die of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome yearly. (limonta).
The dengue virus, being very complex in behavior and morphology, has a very simple method of transportation. Many deadly viruses known today are transmitted via human contact, the dengue virus moves from one host to another through mosquitoes. The transmission cycle is "MAN-MOSQUITO-MAN". Humans get infected with dengue viruses by the bite of an infective female mosquitoes of the genus Aedes. The dengue viruses are the only known arboviruses that have fully adapted to humans, having lost the need for an enzootic cycle for maintenance.
