Abstract
Little is known about the natural history of dengue in Papua New Guinea (PNG). We assessed dengue virus (DENV)-specific neutralizing antibody profiles in serum samples collected from northern and southern coastal areas and the highland region of New Guinea between 1959 and 1963. Neutralizing antibodies were demonstrated in sera from the northern coast of New Guinea: from Sabron in Dutch New Guinea (now known as West Papua) and from four villages in East Sepik in what is now PNG. Previous monotypic infection with DENV-1, DENV-2, and DENV-4 was identified, with a predominance of anti-DENV-2 neutralizing antibody. The majority of positive sera demonstrated evidence of multiple previous DENV infections and neutralizing activity against all four serotypes was detected, with anti-DENV-2 responses being most frequent and of greatest magnitude. No evidence of previous DENV infection was identified in the Asmat villages of the southern coast and a single anti-DENV-positive sample was identified in the Eastern Highlands of PNG. These findings indicate that multiple DENV serotypes circulated along the northern coast of New Guinea at different times in the decades prior to 1963 and support the notion that dengue has been a significant yet neglected tropical infection in PNG for many decades.
Highlights
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease of humans caused by infection with the dengue viruses (DENV)
No evidence of previous DENV infection was identified in the Asmat villages of the southern coast and a single anti-DENV-positive sample was identified in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease caused by infection with any of the four dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1 –DENV-4), which are transmitted in more than 100 tropical and subtropical countries
Summary
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease of humans caused by infection with the dengue viruses (DENV). An estimated 390 million infections occur each year in tropical and subtropical countries of which about 98 million are symptomatic; in endemic countries dengue is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The frequency, magnitude, and geographic range of dengue epidemics began to increase dramatically after the Second World War when major demographic and ecological changes resulted in increased transmission of the dengue viruses and the disease is endemic in more than 100 tropical and subtropical countries [1,2,3]. Symptomatic DENV infection typically presents as a non-specific acute febrile illness (dengue fever, DF) which usually develops 3–8 days following a bite from an infected Aedes mosquito, most commonly Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus. The risk of developing severe dengue is greatly increased in a secondary infection with heterologous DENV [9,10]
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