Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of Dengue Fever being transmitted in the UK, now and in the future.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection that is transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito from the Stegomyia subgenus. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes surveillance of dengue cases in the United Kingdom. All cases identified in the UK to date are imported cases where a human has been infected abroad then travelled to the UK. There is no current evidence of the presence of mosquito species that can transmit dengue in the UK and there is no risk of acquisition of infection within the UK.

Changing weather conditions favourable for the proliferation of mosquitoes and the expansion outside of historical areas of transmission secondary to climate change may lead to changes in dengue transmission beyond current endemic areas. UKHSA have published modelling on the future risk of establishment of mosquito species that can transmit dengue in the UK, and undertake daily international horizon scanning via epidemic intelligence to track changing dengue epidemiology globally. Detections of invasive mosquitoes are responded to in line with the national contingency plan to prevent the establishment of mosquitoes that can transmit dengue.