Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Eurosurveillance, Volume 21, Issue 21, 26 May 2016
Editorial
At the beginning of the 20th century, dengue outbreaks were rather common in the Mediterranean basin. The last major epidemic on the European continent occurred in 1927/28 and predominantly affected Athens and neighbouring areas of Greece. After a first mild wave, which nearly ended with the arrival of cold weather in the winter season, a small number of cases continued to occur through the winter and spring, increasing dramatically in August 1928 [1-3]. It is conceivable that both the virus and its primary vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, survived the winter in the city, inside heated houses. Serological surveys detected neutralising antibodies to different dengue virus (DENV) serotypes in samples of individuals living in Athens in that period [4,5]. Some time after this severe outbreak, with 1,000 to 1,500 deaths, both dengue and its primary vector ?abandoned? the European continent.
The outbreak of seven autochthonous dengue cases reported by Succo et al. in this issue of Eurosurveillance [6] was triggered by one infected traveller returning from French Polynesia in the summer of 2015, and occurred in an area where another vector, Ae. albopictus, the Asian Tiger mosquito, was established in 2005.
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............... the likelihood of future occurrence of dengue and other Aedes-borne viruses in Europe will be impacted by (i) repeated introduction of the infection, (ii) climate change, which may favour overwintering of virus and mosquitoes, (iii) possible increased fitness of viruses for the Tiger mosquito, as happened for CHIKV, and (iv) the return of Ae. aegypti, which is now established Caucasian cost of the Black Sea, where it competes with Ae. albopictus and Ae. koreicus [22].
To this regard, further expansion of Ae. aegypti towards the Mediterranean shores may not be fully excluded.
Editorial
At the beginning of the 20th century, dengue outbreaks were rather common in the Mediterranean basin. The last major epidemic on the European continent occurred in 1927/28 and predominantly affected Athens and neighbouring areas of Greece. After a first mild wave, which nearly ended with the arrival of cold weather in the winter season, a small number of cases continued to occur through the winter and spring, increasing dramatically in August 1928 [1-3]. It is conceivable that both the virus and its primary vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, survived the winter in the city, inside heated houses. Serological surveys detected neutralising antibodies to different dengue virus (DENV) serotypes in samples of individuals living in Athens in that period [4,5]. Some time after this severe outbreak, with 1,000 to 1,500 deaths, both dengue and its primary vector ?abandoned? the European continent.
The outbreak of seven autochthonous dengue cases reported by Succo et al. in this issue of Eurosurveillance [6] was triggered by one infected traveller returning from French Polynesia in the summer of 2015, and occurred in an area where another vector, Ae. albopictus, the Asian Tiger mosquito, was established in 2005.
.....................................
............... the likelihood of future occurrence of dengue and other Aedes-borne viruses in Europe will be impacted by (i) repeated introduction of the infection, (ii) climate change, which may favour overwintering of virus and mosquitoes, (iii) possible increased fitness of viruses for the Tiger mosquito, as happened for CHIKV, and (iv) the return of Ae. aegypti, which is now established Caucasian cost of the Black Sea, where it competes with Ae. albopictus and Ae. koreicus [22].
To this regard, further expansion of Ae. aegypti towards the Mediterranean shores may not be fully excluded.