The increase in presentations of dengue fever in New South Wales

Abstract

The earliest known reports of dengue fever, a mosquitoborne disease, are from China in 992 AD. During the 18th and 19th centuries, both the slave trade and increases in shipping and commercial trade saw the disease spread throughout the world via sailing ships. This spread was largely due to the water supplies stored on board ships, which provided an effective means of travel for the virus and vector that cause dengue fever.