Contents



Preface

The One Health approach from the World Health Organization has emerged to translate the interrelationships between human, animal, and environmental health. Anthropogenic movements result in modifications of the wild natural habitat, such as the destruction of forest areas, the introduction of domestic animals, and the improvisation of sanitation conditions. Climate changes can affect and modulate pathogen epidemics by providing conditions for the proliferation of arthropod vectors of infectious diseases. In this scenario, dengue fever is the most important

The dengue virus (DENV) occurs in four different serotypes and is transmitted by mosquitoes from the genus *Aedes*, principally *Ae. aegypti* and *Ae. Albopictus*. The first section of the book contains chapters on general aspects of virus biology, epidemiology, transmission routes, natural history, and vector biology. Chapters 1 and 2 describe for the first time the role of *Aedes* species in the transmission cycle of DENV in different global regions, and Chapter 3 examines the role of

The pathophysiologic characteristics of diseases caused by DENV infection is a result of the complex interaction of different virus serotypes and genotypes with the immune system of the human host. Chapters 4 and 5 in the second section of the book cover humoral and cellular immune responses associated to immunopathology caused by DENV infection. Knowledge of immune response to

In the third section of the book, three different chapters describe how molecular biology tools can help in the establishment of new strategies for the study and management of epidemics caused by dengue viruses. Chapter 6 focuses on miRNA studies to investigate DENV replication, vector proliferation, and infection, bringing new possibilities to vector control strategies. Chapter 7 present an excellent review on phage display technologies and discusses its use in DENV diagnosis and drug therapy. Chapter 8 describes a simple method to extract RNA from single specimen of mosquitoes, contributing to new possibilities to explore arthropod vector biology.

This book contributes to the knowledge of different aspects of DENV biological interactions in the perspective of the One Health concept, inspiring a broad public, including undergraduate and post-graduate students, researchers from different knowledge areas, and health professionals, to reflect on global recurrent emergent and reemergent arthropod-borne diseases. I am grateful to all authors for their contributions and to IntechOpen for the opportunity to participate as editor of this

Universidade Federal do ABC - Center for Natural and Human Sciences,

**Márcia Aparecida Sperança, PhD**

São Paulo, Brazil

environmental changes associated to proliferation of *Aedes* vectors.

DENV is of major importance to development of a secure vaccine.

book on an important global life-threatening disease.

arthropod-borne disease worldwide.
