A team of scientists at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology who studied the effect of temperature in altering the virulence of dengue virus (DENV) using mice models has found that environmental temperature can play a key role in enhancing the virulence of DENV.
The factors that drive dengue virus evolution and selection of virulent variants are yet not clear. Dengue being a mosquito-transmitted disease, the ability of the causative virus to grow in the cells of mosquito as well as in humans is a critical factor determining viral virulence. Higher environmental temperature shortens DENV extrinsic incubation period in mosquitoes, increases human transmission, and plays a critical role in outbreak dynamics.