Transmission of Dengue

(picture-female mosquitoe)
Dengue is transmitted by the female mosquitoes.
The female mosquitoes take blood meals that are used to support the development of
eggs.
Aedes aegypti feeds throughout the day with peaks of activity at mid-morning and late
afternoon.
The transmission of dengue can be explained as follows :

1 When a female mosquito drinks the blood of an infected person, it takes in a certain number
of dengue viruses.

2 The viruses move up with the ingested blood into the oesophagus.

3 The viruses end up in the stomach where they resist the mosquitos digestive juices.

4 The viruses are able to break through the stomach wall barrier and after a latency phase, they
multiply with great intensity inside the mosquiyos cells. The virus takes about 5-7 days to
replicate itself.

5 While invading all parts of the mosquitos body, the virus enters the salivary glands where it
concentrates. The mosquito is not affected by the virus.

6&7 The next time the female Ae.aegypti bites a healthy person to take a blood meal, it injects
saliva that contains dengue virus into the bloodstream of the person. So, the person is infected
by the dengue virus.

Dengue can also be transmitted via infected blood products and through organ donation.
In countries such as Singapore, where dengue is endemic, the risk is edtimated to be
between 1.6 and6 per 10,000 transfusions.
Vertical transmission (from mother to child) during pregnancy or at birth has been
reported. The virus can be passed from the mothers blood into thechilds blood. Other
person-to-person modes of transmission have also been reported, but are very unusual.