No room for complacency to control dengue in Nepal.

Abstract

Dengue is a febrile disease caused by the dengue virus (Flaviviridae Family) transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus). Symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, rash, eye, joint, bone and muscle pain. Dengue symptoms typically last for 2–7 days, most people will recover within a week and one in every 20 people may develop severe dengue, which can lead to death.1 Four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4) are capable of infection, and there is no specific treatment for this disease.2 Dengue fever was first recorded in Nepal in 2004, and it has since grown endemic, with outbreaks occurring every year except in 2005. In 2019, there were 17 992 cases and six death cases were reports in Nepal which were the highest for 2019. As of 15 October 2022, 40 029 dengue cases and 48 deaths were reported, which are the highest for the country since the first outbreak in 2004 (Figure 1).3 There was a surge in cases from the first week of August, peaked in September and started to decline since the beginning of October. The outbreaks of Dengue could have occurred due to high humidity and associated favorable environmental conditions that favor the growth, development and transmission of Aedes mosquitoes.4