Impact of dengue virus infection and its control

Dengue virus infection has been counted among emerging and re-emerging diseases because of (1) the increasing number of patients, (2) the expansion of epidemic areas, and (3) the appearance of severe clinical manifestation of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)/dengue shock syndrome (DSS), which is often fatal if not properly treated. In the meantime, there are no effective dengue control measures: a dengue vaccine is still under development and vector control does not provide a long-lasting effect. In order to obtain direct evidence for the virulent virus theory concerning the pathogenesis of DHF/DSS, type 2 dengue virus strains isolated from patients with different clinical severities in the same epidemic area in northeast Thailand, during the same season, were comparatively sequenced. The result revealed a DF strain specific amino acid substitution from I to R in the PrM, and a DSS strain specific amino acid substitution from D to G in the NS1 gene regions, which could significantly alter the nature of these proteins. Moreover, DF strain specific nucleotide substitutions in the 3' noncoding region were predicted to alter its secondary structure. These amino acid and nucleotide substitutions in other strains isolated in different epidemic areas during other seasons, together with their biological significance, remain to be confirmed. In order to innovate dengue vector control, field tests were carried out in dengue epidemic areas in Vietnam to examine the efficacy of Olyset Net screen, which is a wide-mesh net made of polyethylene thread impregnated with permethrin. The results show that Olyset Net (1) reduced the number of principal dengue vector species, Aedes aegypti, (2) interrupted the silent transmission of dengue viruses and (3) was highly appreciated by the local people as a convenient and comfortable vector control method. This encouraging evaluation of the Olyset Net screen should be confirmed further by other tests under different settings.