MissYunia (Date Accessed: February 22, 2013) http://missyunia.blogspot.com/2012/07/urbanization.html
The picture below shows recent increases in dengue due to trends in urbanization and globalization
WHO (Date Accessed: February 22, 2013) http://www.who.int/csr/disease/dengue/impact/en/
Urbanization has had the greatest impact on the propagation of dengue fever throughout the world. Rapid urbanization as seen in the past few decades in regions in India, the Phillipines, and South America, has caused difficulties in maintaining proper sanitation and infrastructure. The past few decades has also seen a marked increase in the incidence of dengue fever in those regions (see figure one). Inadequate housing, poor waste management systems, and high population density all increase the likelihood that mosquitoes--and dengue fever--will thrive in those areas. Nonetheless, urban environments bring people closer together and therefore make it easier for a mosquito first, to become infected, and second, to feed on and therefore infect multiple people.
Figure One: Shows cases of dengue fever in green. Fever appears to be controlled by advances in technology and medicine, but spreads out of control as rapid urbanization occurs.
NCBI (Date Accessed: February 22, 2013) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317603/bin/tmh-2011-S05-g003.jpg
Population density has long been thought to contribute to the spread of the disease. The concept of urbanization implies a higher population density. Urban environments have had dengue problems, which could be linked to having a higher population density and poorer areas with inadequate water storage. But, a recent study suggests that rural areas might have a higher risk of dengue outbreaks (Science Daily 2011). Lack of piped water in rural environments means mosquitoes have access to breeding grounds (PLOS 2011).
Figure Two: Map A shows the documented strains of dengue fever in 1970 then in 2011. Increase in population density and air travel has spread dengue fever.
NCBI (Date Accessed: February 22, 2013) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317603/bin/tmh-2011-S05-g008.jpg
Globalization and travel are synonymous with urbanization, and both contribute to the spread of dengue fever on an international level. Air travel can transport infected hosts, whether human or mosquito, from point A on one side of the planet to point B on the other side of the planet, which is very convenient for introducing disease to new populations. In addition, urbanization and travel bring large numbers of people in close proximity to mosquito populations and to each other, which enables the dengue virus to undergo constant mutation as it is passed from host to host. We can see the effects of air travel and crowding on disease mutation and propagation in figure two, which displays the different types of dengue fever present on the planet in 1970 then in 2011 (Gubler 2011).