Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

PLoS One 2019 20;14(2):e0211401. Epub 2019 Feb 20.

Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Goiás, Goiás, Brazil.

Background: Studies on dengue related to the cost of illness and cost of the program are factors to describe the economic burden of dengue, a neglected disease that has global importance in public health. These studies are often used by health managers in optimizing financial resources. A systematic review of studies estimating the cost of dengue was carried out, comparing the costs between the studies and examining the cost drivers regarding the methodological choices. Read More

Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo 2019 Feb 14;61:e9. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, Laboratorio de Arbovirología, Mérida, Yucatán, México.

This study was designed to assess whether churches in endemic dengue districts in Merida, Mexico provide suitable breeding habitats for mosquitoes and are potential sites for dengue virus (DENV) transmission. Churches were inspected for immature and adult mosquitoes once every week from November 2015 to October 2016. A total of 10,997 immatures of five species were collected. Read More

Arch Virol 2019 Feb 19. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a physical barrier that restricts the passage of cells and molecules as well as pathogens into the central nervous system (CNS). Some viruses enter the CNS by disrupting the BBB, while others can reach the CNS without altering the integrity of the BBB. Even though dengue virus (DENV) is not a distinctive neurotropic virus, the virus is considered to be one of the leading causes of neurological manifestations. Read More

J Infect Dis 2019 Feb 19. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America.

Background: Dengue virus (DENV) can cause life-threatening disease characterized by endothelial dysfunction and vascular leakage. DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) induces human endothelial hyperpermeability and vascular leak in mice, and NS1 vaccination confers antibody-mediated protective immunity. We evaluated the magnitude, cross-reactivity, and functionality of NS1-specific IgG antibody responses in sera from a phase II clinical trial of Takeda's live-attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate (TAK-003). Read More

ACS Med Chem Lett 2019 Feb 4;10(2):168-174. Epub 2019 Jan 4.

Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

The Zika virus presents a major public health concern due to severe fetal neurological disorders associated with infections in pregnant women. In addition to vaccine development, the discovery of selective antiviral drugs is essential to combat future epidemic Zika virus outbreaks. The Zika virus NS2B-NS3 protease, which performs replication-critical cleavages of the viral polyprotein, is a promising drug target. Read More

Ayu 2018 Apr-Jun;39(2):87-91

Department of Virology, King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Background: Dengue virus is a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics. As many as 400 million people are infected yearly. Dengue is caused by any one of four related viruses transmitted by mosquitoes. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 Feb 19;9(1):2241. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.

Historically known as the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti invaded Madeira Island in 2005 and was the vector of the island's first dengue outbreak in 2012. We have studied genetic variation at 16 microsatellites and two mitochondrial DNA genes in temporal samples of Madeira Island, in order to assess the origin of the invasion and the population structure of this mosquito vector. Our results indicated at least two independent colonization events occurred on the island, both having a South American source population. Read More

Anal Chim Acta 2019 May 23;1055:140-147. Epub 2018 Dec 23.

Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of New Molecular Diagnosis Technologies for Infectious Diseases, Beijing, 100850, PR China. Electronic address:

Simple, inexpensive, and rapid diagnostic tests in low-resource settings with limited laboratory equipment and technical expertise are instrumental in reducing morbidity and mortality from epidemic infectious diseases. We developed a smartphone-based fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) platform for the highly sensitive point-of-care detection of Zika virus nonstructural protein 1 (ZIKV NS1). An attachment was designed and 3D-printed to integrate the smartphone with external optical and electrical components, enabling the miniaturization of the instrument and reduction in cost and complexity. Read More

Viruses 2019 Feb 13;11(2). Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Division of Molecular Medicine, Research Department, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.

One of several mechanisms that leads to the development of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) is called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). Monocytes can be infected by the ADE phenomenon, which occurs in dengue secondary infection. This study aimed to investigate the proteins involved in ADE of DENV infection in the human monocytic cell line U937. Read More

Trop Med Infect Dis 2019 Feb 15;4(1). Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Background: Dengue has affected more than one-third of the world population and Malaysia has recorded an increase in the number of dengue cases since 2012. Selangor state recorded the highest number of dengue cases in Malaysia. Most of the dengue infections occur among people living in hotspot areas of dengue. Read More

Theor Popul Biol 2019 Feb 16. Epub 2019 Feb 16.

Université Paris-Est, Cermics (ENPC), F-77455 Marne-la-Vallée, France. Electronic address:

Managing infectious diseases is a world public health issue, plagued by uncertainties. In this paper, we analyze the problem of viable control of a dengue outbreak under uncertainty. For this purpose, we develop a controlled Ross-Macdonald model with mosquito vector control by fumigation, and with uncertainties affecting the dynamics; both controls and uncertainties are supposed to change only once a day, then remain stationary during the day. Read More

Pharm Biol 2019 Dec;57(1):120-124

c Faculty of Pharmacy , Meijo University , Nagoya City , Japan.

Context: Dengue control may be done by targeting its vector. In this study, we used Artocarpus blancoi (Elm.) Merr. Read More

Med Vet Entomol 2019 Feb 18. Epub 2019 Feb 18.

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde. Laboratório de Virologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá, Brazil.

Vertical transmission to progeny ensures the maintenance of arboviruses in their natural vectors. This mechanism is largely reported for dengue virus (DENV) and yellow fever virus (YFV). Few studies have addressed this mechanism for Zika virus (ZIKV), Mayaro virus (MAYV) and other arboviruses. Read More

Talanta 2019 May 17;197:482-490. Epub 2019 Jan 17.

Institute of Bioscience, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

A new immunosensor using hybrid nanomaterials for the detection of dengue virus was demonstrated in this work. This immunosensor composed of nanoparticles of γ-FeO(SAMN) modified with MPA- SAMN@MPA was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy,quartz crystal microbalance, UV-vis and LSPR technique. The binding of SAMN@MPA with AuNPs conjugated with aptamers(SAMN@MPA@AuNPs@aptamer) provides specific chemical bonds to four dengue serotypes. Read More

Antiviral Res 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Department of Microbiology and Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address:

The recent emergence of Zika virus, a mosquito-borne flavivirus, in the Americas has shed light on the severe neurological diseases associated with infection, notably congenital microcephaly in newborns and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. Despite the recent focus on Zika virus, there are currently no approved vaccines or antiviral therapies available to treat or prevent infection. In this study we established a competitive amplified luminescent proximity homogeneous assay (ALPHAscreen) to identify small molecule inhibitors targeting the envelope protein of Zika virus (Zika E). Read More

Trop Med Int Health 2019 Feb 16. Epub 2019 Feb 16.

Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria, Centro de Investigación de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Argentina.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness and degree of implementation of interventions for the control of Aedes aegypti in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as reported in scientific literature.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, SOCINDEX and LILACS, for experimental and observational studies, economic assessments and qualitative experiences carried out in LAC from 2000 to 2016. We assessed incidence and morbimortality of Aedes aegypti-related diseases and entomological indices: Breteau (containers), House, and Pupae per Person. Read More

Am J Transplant 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Solid Oran Transplant, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Amrita University, Kochi, Kerala, India.

We would certainly agree with the author that owing to the retrospective nature of the study, pre-transplant samples were not available for testing and therefore conclusive evidence of donor to recipient transmission is virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the plasma from the donor and the recipient was tested for dengue viral RNA and it was positive confirming the presence of viremia. Although the diagnostic test was not quantitative, the real-time PCR results for dengue diagnosis indicated a much higher viremia in the recipient compared to the donor. Read More

Immunology 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK.

Designing improved vaccines against mutable viruses such as Dengue and Influenza would be helped by a better understanding of how the B-cell memory compartment responds to variant antigens. Towards this we have recently shown after secondary immunization of mice with a widely variant Dengue envelope protein, with only 63% amino-acid identity, that IgM+ memory B-cells with few mutations supported an efficient secondary germinal centre (GC) and serum response, superior to a primary response to the same protein. Here, further investigation of memory responses to variant proteins, using more closely related Influenza haemagglutinins (HA), that were 82% identical, produced a variant-induced boost response in the GC dominated by highly mutated B-cells that failed, not efficiently improving serum avidity even in the presence of extra adjuvant, and that was worse than a primary response. Read More

Acta Trop 2019 Feb 11;192:104-111. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohunpur, P.O. North Bengal University, Siliguri, 734013, District - Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Electronic address:

Dengue is one of the most rapidly spreading infectious diseases prevalent throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In absence of specific medications and vaccines, the sole method of disease prevention relies on vector control mainly using insecticides. But with the advent of Insecticide resistance, worldwide vector control programs are facing failure. Read More

Acta Trop 2019 Feb 11;192:129-137. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States. Electronic address:

The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, has facilitated the re-emergence of dengue virus (DENV) and emergence of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) in the Americas and the Caribbean. The recent transmission of these arboviruses in the continental United States has been limited, to date, to South Florida and South Texas despite Ae. aegypti occurring over a much larger geographical region within the country. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019 Feb 14;13(2):e0006997. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Institut Pasteur, Department of Virology, Arboviruses and Insect Vectors, Paris, France.

In 2015, the mosquito Aedes albopictus was detected in Rabat, Morocco. This invasive species can be involved in the transmission of more than 25 arboviruses. It is known that each combination of mosquito population and virus genotype leads to a specific interaction that can shape the outcome of infection. Read More

Am J Trop Med Hyg 2019 Feb 11. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Center of Excellence in Pharmacology and Molecular Biology of Malaria and Cholangiocarcinoma, Chulabhorn International College of Medicine, Thammasat University, Rangsit Center, Klong Luang, Thailand.

Dengue virus (DENV) causes asymptomatic to severe life-threatening infections and affects millions of people worldwide. Autophagy, a cellular degradative pathway, has both proviral and antiviral functions. Dengue virus triggers the autophagy pathway for the successful replication of its genome. Read More

Front Public Health 2018 29;6:384. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Department of Comparative Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2018. Read More

Front Immunol 2019 29;10:59. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Dengue fever has become a global threat, causing millions of infections every year. An effective vaccine against all four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV) has not been developed yet. Among the different vaccination strategies available today, DNA vaccines are safe and practical, but currently induce relatively weak immune responses in humans. Read More

Front Microbiol 2019 30;10:80. Epub 2019 Jan 30.

Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Carbapenems are considered as last-resort antibiotics for the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. With the increasing use of carbapenems in clinical practice, the emergence of carbapenem-resistant pathogens now poses a great threat to human health. Currently, antibiotic options for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant (CRE) are very limited, with polymyxins, tigecycline, fosfomycin, and aminoglycosides as the mainstays of therapy. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 Feb 13;9(1):1930. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

USDA-Agricultural Research Service Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, Florida, USA.

Interannual climate variability patterns associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon result in climate and environmental anomaly conditions in specific regions worldwide that directly favor outbreaks and/or amplification of variety of diseases of public health concern including chikungunya, hantavirus, Rift Valley fever, cholera, plague, and Zika. We analyzed patterns of some disease outbreaks during the strong 2015-2016 El Niño event in relation to climate anomalies derived from satellite measurements. Disease outbreaks in multiple El Niño-connected regions worldwide (including Southeast Asia, Tanzania, western US, and Brazil) followed shifts in rainfall, temperature, and vegetation in which both drought and flooding occurred in excess (14-81% precipitation departures from normal). Read More

J Clin Microbiol 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centers for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Division of Vector Borne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, PR

The global expansion of dengue viruses (DENV-1-4) has contributed to the divergence, transmission, and establishment of genetic lineages of epidemiological concern; however, tracking phylogenetic relationships of these virus is not always possible due to inability of standardized sequencing procedures in resource-limited public health laboratories Consequently, public genomic data banks contain inadequate representation of geographical regions and historical periods. In order to improve detection of DENV-1-4 lineages, we report the development of a serotype-specific Sanger-based method standardized to sequence DENV-1-4 directly from clinical samples using universal primers that detect most DENV genotypes. The resulting envelope protein coding sequences are analyzed for genotyping with phylogenetic methods. Read More

Viruses 2019 Feb 12;11(2). Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, The University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.

Mosquito-borne diseases constitute a large portion of infectious diseases, causing more than 700,000 deaths annually. Mosquito-transmitted viruses, such as yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, chikungunya, and Zika viruses, have re-emerged recently and remain a public health threat worldwide. Global climate change, rapid urbanization, burgeoning international travel, expansion of mosquito populations, vector competence, and host and viral genetics may all together contribute to the re-emergence of arboviruses. Read More

Cell Rep 2019 Feb;26(7):1800-1814.e5

Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address:

The mechanisms that regulate envelopment of HCV and other viruses that bud intracellularly and/or lack late-domain motifs are largely unknown. We reported that K63 polyubiquitination of the HCV nonstructural (NS) 2 protein mediates HRS (ESCRT-0 component) binding and envelopment. Nevertheless, the ubiquitin signaling that governs NS2 ubiquitination remained unknown. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019 Feb 13;13(2):e0007043. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Unité d'Entomologie Médicale, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal.

Dengue fever (DEN) is the most common arboviral disease in the world and dengue virus (DENV) causes 390 million annual infections around the world, of which 240 million are inapparent and 96 million are symptomatic. During the past decade a changing epidemiological pattern has been observed in Africa, with DEN outbreaks reported in all regions. In Senegal, all DENV serotypes have been reported. Read More

J Parasitol Res 2019 14;2019:4914137. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Laboratory of the Institute of Evolution and Ecology, Department of Comparative Zoology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

In recent years, an upsurge of vector-borne diseases has been reported in several parts of the world. Among these is dengue fever, the first arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus . After the detection of the dengue virus serological types (type 1, 2, and 3) in the health district of Cocody-Bingerville in Ivory Coast, entomological investigations were carried out in the city of Cocody (host of most cases) to evaluate the risk of transmission of the disease in view of an effective vector control. Read More

Blood 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most prevalent vector-borne viral pathogen, infecting millions of patients annually. Thrombocytopenia, a reduction in circulating platelet counts, is the most consistent sign of DENV-induced disease, independent of disease severity. However, the mechanisms leading to DENV-induced thrombocytopenia are unknown. Read More

Trop Doct 2019 Feb 12:49475519827110. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

4 Senior Instructor, Department of Medicine, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.

Folic acid is used in dengue patients. Our study aims to compare the duration of recovery of thrombocytopenia in patients with dengue infection who received folic acid and those who did not. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of adult patients admitted over six years with a diagnosis of dengue. Read More

J Med Entomol 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Entomology and Ecology Activity, Dengue Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

This investigation was initiated to control Aedes aegypti and Zika virus transmission in Caguas City, Puerto Rico, during the 2016 epidemic using Integrated Vector Management (IVM), which included community awareness and education, source reduction, larviciding, and mass-trapping with autocidal gravid ovitraps (AGO). The epidemic peaked in August to October 2016 and waned after April 2017. There was a preintervention period in October/November 2016 and IVM lasted until August 2017. Read More

J Econ Entomol 2019 Feb 9. Epub 2019 Feb 9.

Centro de Investigaciones de Plagas e Insecticidas (CONICET- CITEDEF), Juan Bautista de La Salle, Villa Martelli, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The mosquito Anopheles pseudopunctipennis (Theobald) is the principal vector for malaria in Latin-America. Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) is the key vector of four important arboviral diseases: dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019 Feb 12;13(2):e0007116. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.

Background: Transmission of dengue virus (DENV) from humans to mosquitoes represents a critical component of dengue epidemiology. Examinations of this process have generally been hampered by a lack of methods that adequately represent natural acquisition of DENV by mosquitoes from humans. In this study, we assessed artificial and natural blood feeding methods based on rates of DENV infection and dissemination within mosquitoes for use in a field-based epidemiological cohort study in Iquitos, Peru. Read More

Am J Transplant 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

dr DY Patil University, Pune, India.

We read the publication on "Dengue virus transmission from live donor liver graft" with a great interest [1]. Mathew et al. reported a dengue patient and noted that "Screening of living donors for dengue virus may be considered in endemic regions [1]. Read More

Curr Top Med Chem 2019 Feb 8. Epub 2019 Feb 8.

School of Molecular Sciences , Arizona State University. United States.

We review various mathematical and computational techniques for drug discovery exemplifying some recent works pertinent to group theory of nested structures of relevance to phylogeny, topological, computational and combinatorial methods for drug discovery for multiple viral infections. We have reviewed techniques from topology, combinatorics, graph theory and knot theory that facilitate topological and mathematical characterizations of protein-protein interactions, molecular-target interactions, proteomics, genomics and statistical data reduction procedures for a large set of starting chemicals in drug discovery. We have provided an overview of group theoretical techniques pertinent to phylogeny, protein dynamics especially in intrinsically disordered proteins, DNA base permutations and related algorithms. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019 28;9. Epub 2019 Jan 28.

Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI), Bern, Switzerland.

Several mosquito-borne Flaviviruses such as Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Dengue Virus (DENV), and Zika virus (ZIKV) can cause severe clinical disease. Being zoonotic, Flaviviruses infect a wide variety of terrestrial vertebrates, which dependent of the virus-host interactions, can enhance ongoing epidemics and maintain the virus in the environment for prolonged periods. Targeted species can vary from amphibians, birds to various mammals, dependent on the virus. Read More

Indian J Psychiatry 2019 Jan-Feb;61(1):100-101

Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India. E-mail:

Enferm Clin 2019 Feb 7. Epub 2019 Feb 7.

Community Health Nursing Division, Nursing Faculty, Riau University, Indonesia.

Objective: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of health education through audiovisual media on improving family knowledge in the prevention of dengue fever (DHF).

Method: This study used a Quasi Experiment research design with a research design of Non-Equivalent Control Group. The study was conducted in the community with a sample of 40 people, consisting of 20 for experimental group and 20 for control group. Read More

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 2019 Jan 14. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Electronic address:

The previous serological algorithm for Zika virus (ZIKV) comprised screening by anti-ZIKV IgM capture ELISA (MAC-ELISA) for samples collected within 3 months postexposure or onset (MPEO). Samples positive by MAC-ELISA and samples collected beyond 3 MPEO were tested by the confirmatory plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), which proved laborious and time-consuming during the 2015 outbreak. Thus, we evaluated several ZIKV ELISAs to establish an anti-IgM and anti-IgG combination for use as a screening tool for all samples prior to PRNT confirmation. Read More

BMC Complement Altern Med 2019 Feb 11;19(1):44. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Herbal Medicine Research Center, Institute for Medical Research, Ministry of Health Malaysia, 50588, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Background: Carica papaya leaves have been used for traditional treatment of dengue fever and have been reported to exhibit an immunomodulatory activity by affecting the level of cytokine production in vitro and in vivo. Due to the lack of adequate in vivo evidence in dengue disease model, the present study was initiated to screen and identify the cytokines affected by freeze-dried C. papaya leaf juice (FCPLJ) treatment in AG129 mice infected with DEN-2 dengue virus. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2018 Dec 13;644:1304-1311. Epub 2018 Jul 13.

School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, China. Electronic address:

Climate change and weather variations are strongly associated with the incidence of dengue fever, outbreak risk in Pakistan and other developing countries. Knowledge and adaptation measures can affect the incidence and outbreak risk of dengue fever. The present study attempted to determine the knowledge, perception and adaptation to dengue fever by the respondents in Faisalabad, Pakistan employing cross-sectional data. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2019 Feb 1;664:203-214. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

Department of Veterinary Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of the Provincial Education Department of Heilongjiang for Common Animal Disease Prevention and Treatment, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China. Electronic address:

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are two important mosquito species which transmit various infectious arbovirus diseases represented mainly by dengue fever. These two species of mosquito have a wide range of distribution and strong transfer capacity. With ongoing global climate change, we are facing an increasing public health threat from the rapid spread of vectors in wider geographical areas. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019 Feb 11;13(2):e0007090. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Global Health Systems and Development Department, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America.

As part of a study to investigate drivers of dengue virus (DENV) transmission dynamics, this qualitative study explored whether DENV-infected residents of Iquitos, Peru, considered it acceptable (1) to participate in direct mosquito feeding experiments (lab-reared Aedes aegypti mosquitoes fed directly on human volunteers) and (2) to provide blood meals indirectly (Ae. aegypti fed on blood drawn from participants by venipuncture). Twelve focus group discussions (FGDs; 94 participants: 82 females and 12 males) were conducted in January 2014 to explore six themes: (1) concerns and preferences regarding direct mosquito feeds and blood draws, (2) comprehension of and misconceptions about study procedures, (3) motivating factors for participation, (4) acceptability of children's participation, (5) willingness to provide multiple samples over several days, and (6) preference for direct feedings in homes versus the study laboratory. Read More

Anal Chem 2019 Feb 11. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Institute of Molecular Biosciences , Mahidol University , Nakhon Pathom , Thailand , 73170.

Biological RNA generally comprises secondary structure motifs which cause a problem for target RNA detection by isothermal amplification methods. The complexity of the secondary structures makes RNA targets inaccessible for probe hybridization, resulting in decreased sensitivity and selectivity. This is particularly important because the hybridization step of the isothermal amplification method requires a limited temperature range. Read More

Pediatr Blood Cancer 2019 Feb 10:e27632. Epub 2019 Feb 10.

Emma's Children's Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Pediatric Oncology, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Theory Biosci 2019 Feb 10. Epub 2019 Feb 10.

Departamento de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, 37200-000, Brazil.

Dengue is, in terms of death and economic cost, one of the most important infectious diseases in the world. So, its mathematical modeling can be a valuable tool to help us to understand the dynamics of the disease and to infer about its spreading by the proposition of control methods. In this paper, control strategies, which aim to eliminate the Aedes aegypti mosquito, as well as proposals for the vaccination campaign are evaluated. Read More

Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol 2019 Feb 21;28:1-13. Epub 2018 Dec 21.

University of Exeter Medical School, College House, Heavitree Rd, Exeter EX1 2LU, United Kingdom.

Epidemiological studies have revealed a complex association between weather and dengue transmission. Our aim is the development of a Spatio-temporal modelling of dengue fever via a Generalized Additive mixed model (GAMM). The structure is based on unknown smoother functions for climatic and a set of non-climatic covariates. Read More