title: Eventual role of asymptomatic cases of dengue for the introduction and spread of dengue viruses in non-endemic regions.
abstract: In dengue virus infections the asymptomatic cases are much more frequent than the symptomatic ones, but their true role in the introduction and subsequent spread of dengue viruses in non-endemic regions remains to de clarified. We analyzed data from English and French literatures to assess if viremia in asymptomatic dengue infections might be sufficient to represent a true risk. During outbreaks of dengue a large number of individuals are infected and since viremia levels in symptomatic patients are known to vary by many orders of magnitude, it is reasonable to augur that a proportion of asymptomatic cases might reach levels of viremia sufficient to infect competent mosquitoes. In addition, a number of new ways of contamination in man by dengue viruses were recently described such as blood transfusion, bone marrow transplantation, and nosocomial infections that may be worth considering.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Virologie, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé Brest, France.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chastel