TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A pivotal study revealed on Monday (Dec. 18) that dengue fever could rapidly spread through a transmission method similar to needle-sharing found in infectious diseases like HBV, HCB, and HIV.
In collaboration with the Department of Health, Kaohsiung City Government, Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes analyzed the timing of infections during the 2015 outbreak, and found that in 85% of household cases, symptoms occurred within three days of each other.
The result suggested a stark contrast to the previously believed incubation period necessary for virus transmission, the research team emphasized.
Using animal models, researchers confirmed that when mosquitoes bite an animal infected with the virus and then promptly bite another, the virus can transfer via the mosquito's proboscis, bypassing the eight-day extrinsic incubation period (EIP) that was once considered essential for transmission.
A severe dengue fever epidemic hit Taiwan this summer, with Tainan emerging as a hotspot as the primary carrier, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is prevalent in southern Taiwan.
The findings explain the rapid spread of the dengue epidemic 2015 and raise concerns for the recent spike in cases.
The study, which also constructed mathematical models with international researchers from the University of California, Nagoya University, Tsinghua University, and National Taiwan University, was published in the esteemed journal eBiomedicine, a Lancet subsidiary, in August 2023.
