Dengue fever in China

The Lancet Seminar1Guzman MG Harris E Dengue.Lancet. 2015; 385: 453-465Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (733) Google Scholar by Maria Guzman and Eva Harris on dengue regarded the burden of dengue in China as unknown. However, dengue fever is a notifiable disease in China, and all cases of dengue fever were diagnosed according to the unified diagnostic criteria issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which includes definitions of clinically diagnosed and laboratory-confirmed cases. From 1978 to 2008, a total of 655 324 cases were reported in mainland China, resulting in 610 deaths.2Wu JY Lun ZR James AA Chen XG Dengue fever in mainland China.Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010; 83: 664-671Crossref PubMed Scopus (198) Google Scholar According to China National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System, from 2009 to 2014, the range of incidence was 0·0091–3·4581 per 100 000 people, and a total of 52 749 cases of dengue fever and six deaths were notified (figure). Because dengue is an emerging disease in China, possible cases are traced by active field investigation when outbreaks occur in the community. Thus, dengue surveillance involves both passive and active case detection. Further study should focus on analysis of prevalence and assessment of relations between seroprevalence and incidence.In 2014, a series of dengue fever outbreaks occurred in Guangdong, Yunnan, Fujian, and Guangxi. These outbreaks pose a substantial socioeconomic burden. Additionally, these outbreaks showed new epidemic trends for dengue fever in Guangdong. Hui and colleagues3Zhao H Zhao L Jiang T et al.Isolation and characterization of dengue virus serotype 2 from the large dengue outbreak in Guangdong, China in 2014.Sci China Life Sci. 2014; 57: 1149-1155Crossref PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar showed that DENV-2 strains circulating in Guangdong have been stable since their introduction in the 2000s—which challenged the view that dengue fever is an imported epidemic disease.4Sang S Chen B Wu H et al.Dengue is still an imported disease in China: a case study in Guangzhou.Infect Genet Evol. 2015; 32: 178-190Crossref PubMed Scopus (70) Google ScholarThis online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on November 26, 2015We declare no competing interests. We thank the National Basic Research Programme of China (973 Programme; 2012CB955504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81273139) for support. The Lancet Seminar1Guzman MG Harris E Dengue.Lancet. 2015; 385: 453-465Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (733) Google Scholar by Maria Guzman and Eva Harris on dengue regarded the burden of dengue in China as unknown. However, dengue fever is a notifiable disease in China, and all cases of dengue fever were diagnosed according to the unified diagnostic criteria issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which includes definitions of clinically diagnosed and laboratory-confirmed cases. From 1978 to 2008, a total of 655 324 cases were reported in mainland China, resulting in 610 deaths.2Wu JY Lun ZR James AA Chen XG Dengue fever in mainland China.Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010; 83: 664-671Crossref PubMed Scopus (198) Google Scholar According to China National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System, from 2009 to 2014, the range of incidence was 0·0091–3·4581 per 100 000 people, and a total of 52 749 cases of dengue fever and six deaths were notified (figure). Because dengue is an emerging disease in China, possible cases are traced by active field investigation when outbreaks occur in the community. Thus, dengue surveillance involves both passive and active case detection. Further study should focus on analysis of prevalence and assessment of relations between seroprevalence and incidence. In 2014, a series of dengue fever outbreaks occurred in Guangdong, Yunnan, Fujian, and Guangxi. These outbreaks pose a substantial socioeconomic burden. Additionally, these outbreaks showed new epidemic trends for dengue fever in Guangdong. Hui and colleagues3Zhao H Zhao L Jiang T et al.Isolation and characterization of dengue virus serotype 2 from the large dengue outbreak in Guangdong, China in 2014.Sci China Life Sci. 2014; 57: 1149-1155Crossref PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar showed that DENV-2 strains circulating in Guangdong have been stable since their introduction in the 2000s—which challenged the view that dengue fever is an imported epidemic disease.4Sang S Chen B Wu H et al.Dengue is still an imported disease in China: a case study in Guangzhou.Infect Genet Evol. 2015; 32: 178-190Crossref PubMed Scopus (70) Google Scholar This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on November 26, 2015 This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on November 26, 2015 This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on November 26, 2015 We declare no competing interests. We thank the National Basic Research Programme of China (973 Programme; 2012CB955504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81273139) for support. DengueDengue viruses have spread rapidly within countries and across regions in the past few decades, resulting in an increased frequency of epidemics and severe dengue disease, hyperendemicity of multiple dengue virus serotypes in many tropical countries, and autochthonous transmission in Europe and the USA. Today, dengue is regarded as the most prevalent and rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease of human beings. Importantly, the past decade has also seen an upsurge in research on dengue virology, pathogenesis, and immunology and in development of antivirals, vaccines, and new vector-control strategies that can positively impact dengue control and prevention. Full-Text PDF Department of ErrorChen B, Liu Q. Dengue fever in China. Lancet 2015; 385: 1621–22—In this Correspondence (April 25), grant numbers for the National Basic Research Programme of China (973 Programme; 2012CB955504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81273139) have been added. This correction has been made to the online version as of Nov 26, 2015. Full-Text PDF