Air travel is associated with intracontinental spread of dengue virus serotypes 1-3 in Brazil.

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Marcio R T Nunes, Gustavo Palacios, Nuno Rodrigues Faria, Edivaldo Costa Sousa, Jamilla A Pantoja, Sueli G Rodrigues, Valéria L Carvalho, Daniele B A Medeiros, Nazir Savji, Guy Baele, Marc A Suchard, Philippe Lemey, Pedro F C Vasconcelos, W Ian Lipkin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002769; https://doaj.org/article/a3e1b05f06cb48e99a30226c7f510115

Dengue virus and its four serotypes (DENV-1 to DENV-4) infect 390 million people and are implicated in at least 25,000 deaths annually, with the largest disease burden in tropical and subtropical regions. We investigated the spatial dynamics of DENV-1, DENV-2 and DENV-3 in Brazil by applying a statistical framework to complete genome sequences. For all three serotypes, we estimated that the introduction of new lineages occurred within 7 to 10-year intervals. New lineages were most likely to be imported from the Caribbean region to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, and then to disperse at a rate of approximately 0.5 km/day. Joint statistical analysis of evolutionary, epidemiological and ecological data indicates that aerial transportation of humans and/or vector mosquitoes, rather than Aedes aegypti infestation rates or geographical distances, determine dengue virus spread in Brazil.