Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Journal

The Journal of Tropical Medicine

Volume

2017

DOI

10.1155/2017/8947067

Abstract

Objective

The global resurgence of dengue has been attributed to rapid population growth, urban expansion, increased air travel, globalization, and climate change. Dengue is now endemic in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is at risk for Zika, another emerging arbovirus. The interrelationship between climatic, ecological, social, and cultural factors that affect dengue and other arboviruses' transmission is understudied.

Design

The objective of this systematic review is to examine the interrelationship between climatic, ecological, social, and cultural factors on dengue transmission in Puerto Rico and to draw lessons for Zika response.

Results

A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed journal articles was performed, producing 562 articles; 26 were selected for this review. Findings indicate that human activities and behaviors (urbanization, migration, and consumption) as well as climate have a significant impact on the abundance and the transmission potential of Ae. aegypti, the vector for dengue, Zika, and other viruses.

Conclusion

Despite the public health burden of dengue limited investments have been made in research and surveillance. Future research is needed to develop models that integrate the multivariate effects of climatic, ecological, social, and cultural factors, which for Puerto Rico have mostly been examined independently. Such models have the potential to inform response to dengue, Zika, and other arboviruses.

Comments

Reproduced with permission of Hindawi Publishing Corp. Journal of Tropical Medicine

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Peer Reviewed

1

Open Access

1

Download

Share

COinS