Rising temperatures may lead to heightened virulence of the Dengue virus, a study suggests, aiding in forecasting and mitigating the severity of the recurrent tropical ailment during monsoons. Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) researchers in Kerala revealed that Dengue becomes more severe in animal models when its virus (DENV), cultivated in mosquito-derived cells, encounters elevated temperatures. The study, published in the FASEB journal, could help anticipate and manage Dengue, which annually burdens the world with around 390 million cases.
The research team, headed by Easwaran Sreekumar, noted that the ability of the virus to flourish in both mosquito and human cells impacts its virulence. They found that DENV cultivated at higher temperatures in mosquito cells exhibited significantly greater virulence than those grown at lower temperatures. The researchers highlighted the potential implications of global warming on infectious disease dynamics, emphasizing that warmer temperatures might lead to more potent Dengue viruses during periods of heightened environmental temperatures and increased mosquito activity.
The study, conducted using a mouse model, demonstrated that strains of the virus cultivated at higher temperatures resulted in greater virus presence in the blood, hemorrhaging, severe tissue changes in crucial organs like the heart, liver, and kidneys, and even fatalities. Despite years of research, effective vaccines or antivirals for Dengue are lacking, and the findings of this study have crucial implications for predicting disease severity during outbreaks.
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