Dengue fever, Maga: “Singapore alarm? Not in our latitudes”

“At the root of the increase in cases of Dengue fever in Singapore are climatic factors that have favored the reproduction of tiger mosquitoes, the vector of the virus. In our latitudes, however, we do not have to worry. Every year we have dozens of cases of Dengue imported. , people who are infected in endemic areas and then fall ill at home. We have never had epidemic outbreaks, contrary to what happened, with small epidemics, for Chikungunya, always transmitted by mosquitoes “. Virologist Giovanni Maga, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Cnr of Pavia, explains this to Adnkronos Salute. Read also In our country, “the tiger mosquito has been present since the 1990s. There is obviously the risk that, from an imported case, the virus could be transmitted to others. But it is not an endemic pathogen. What is happening to Singapore is not a condition that can recur with us. There are therefore no reasons for alarm but, for some time, a surveillance system has been active to quickly identify imported cases, or autochthonous ones, linked to all possible viruses transmitted by mosquitoes. Dengue but also West Nile, Chikungunya, Zika. We are not helpless or careless because we have been actively monitoring for years now “, says Maga. The Dengue virus – continues the expert – “reflects the trend of the mosquito population and if the climatic conditions have favored their reproduction it is obvious that there are more cases. The ‘tiger’, which is the main vector, has also the characteristic of biting throughout the 24 hours, not only in the evening like ‘our’ native mosquitoes that go in search of food at sunset. And this multiplies its ability to spread the virus “.