The emergence of dengue fever in Ethiopia

Abstract

Dengue is one of the arbo-viral diseases considered or suspected to be endemic in Ethiopia. The disease is caused by viruses belonging to the family Flaviviridae (formerly group B) and belonging to the same family with yellow fever and West Nile fever. Although dengue was first reported from Wollo, Harrarghe and Addis Ababa during the 1940s by Italian physicians; the identification of the viruses causing denge fever syndromes in human was done during and since 1960-62, yellow fever epidemic. Viruses such as Zika, West Nile, Chikungunya, Wesselsbron, Talaguine and Sindbis were identified and all are causing febrile illness with rash. Those viruses were found during serological surveys in human populations in Gamo Gofa and Wollega as well as in wild animals (1). It was in the past, from 1975 to 1996 that Ethiopia was considered dengue endemic with other countries, including Comoros, Kenya, the Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Mauritius, and Mozambique.