**Preface XI**


Chapter 6 **Challenges for the Introduction and Evaluation of the Impact of Innovative Aedes aegypti Control Strategies 95** Héctor Gómez-Dantés, Norma Pavía-Ruz, Fabián Correa-Morales, Abdiel Martín-Park, Gonzalo Vázquez-Prokopec and Pablo Manrique-Saide


Preface

edly and with serious consequences.

zle posed by dengue fever control.

ment.

Mosquito-borne diseases, as many other infectious diseases, have shaped the history of soci‐ eties. For centuries, these diseases have taken their toll on human health and still stand to‐ day as a formidable threat to public health. Terms such as Chikungunya, Mayaro, Rift Valley Fever, West Nile, among others, have claimed their place in the collective fear, be‐ coming omnipresent reminders that epidemics of little known diseases can occur unexpect‐

As we witness the progress in the reversing trends of Malaria, the nimble mosquito remains today as the most lethal animal on this planet, evolving and adapting to new environments, populations, and pathogenic agents. As a result, the threat evolves, showing its new face in the form of emerging viral mosquito-borne diseases, which in the last three decades have exposed the weaknesses in our health systems for adapting in a similar fashion. Our reliance on stand‐ ard approaches for vector control, lack of innovation, and the slow incorporation of technology have translated, as a predictable consequence, in our failure in preventing the appearance of seasonal epidemics in regions where nearly two thirds of the human population inhabit.

Since its recognition as a potentially lethal disease in the 1950s, dengue fever has been the model for designing prevention and control strategies that are applicable to other mosquitoborne diseases, especially those transmitted by *Aedes ssp.* mosquitoes. As a disease, dengue fever has challenged scientists by neutralizing most attempts to bring it into control. From denial of natural niches to insecticides, each and every new strategy has proven ineffective to sustain long-term trends in the number of cases. Nonetheless, groundbreaking disciplines such as biotechnology and computing have, in the last decade, brought promising tools that add to the current arsenal, creating a potential critical mass that might finally solve the puz‐

*Dengue Fever - a Resilient Threat in the Face of Innovation* was born with the premise of reviewing the latest updates on dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases. The first part of the book covers basic aspects of dengue fever such as the general overview of dengue fever as a public health problem, burden of disease, vector ecology, and the diagnostic tools currently available. The second part of the book focuses on new tools and approaches for surveillance and vector control, which have surpassed the phase of design and are being evaluated on the field, hopefully to be incorporated in the short term as part of the Integrated Vector Manage‐

In our increasingly globalized world, which hosts the most digitally connected population in history, collaborative work is more important than ever to achieve success. Consequently,

Chapter 9 **Current Status of Vaccines against Dengue Virus 145** Jhon Carlos Castaño-Osorio, Alejandra María Giraldo-Garcia and Maria Isabel Giraldo
