• Asma Sohail, Katherine L Anders, Sarah L McGuinness, and Karin Leder.
• School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
• J Travel Med. 2024 Mar 1; 31 (2).

BackgroundDengue is the most important arboviral disease globally and poses ongoing challenges for control including in non-endemic countries with competent mosquito vectors at risk of local transmission through imported cases. We examined recent epidemiological trends in imported and locally acquired dengue in Australia, where the Wolbachia mosquito population replacement method was implemented throughout dengue-prone areas of northern Queensland between 2011 and 2019.MethodsWe analysed dengue cases reported to the Australian National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System between January 2012 and December 2022, and Australian traveller movement data.ResultsBetween 2012 and 2022, 13 343 dengue cases were reported in Australia (median 1466 annual cases); 12 568 cases (94.2%) were imported, 584 (4.4%) were locally acquired and 191 (1.4%) had no origin recorded. Locally acquired cases decreased from a peak in 2013 (n = 236) to zero in 2021-22. Annual incidence of imported dengue ranged from 8.29/100 000 (n = 917 cases) to 22.10/100 000 (n = 2203) annual traveller movements between 2012 and 2019, decreased in 2020 (6.74/100 000 traveller movements; n = 191) and 2021 (3.32/100 000 traveller movements; n = 10) during COVID-19-related border closures, then rose to 34.79/100 000 traveller movements (n = 504) in 2022. Imported cases were primarily acquired in Southeast Asia (n = 9323; 74%), Southern and Central Asia (n = 1555; 12%) and Oceania (n = 1341; 11%). Indonesia (n = 5778; 46%) and Thailand (n = 1483; 12%) were top acquisition countries. DENV-2 (n = 2147; 42%) and DENV-1 (n = 1526; 30%) were predominant serotypes.ConclusionOur analysis highlights Australia's successful control of locally acquired dengue with Wolbachia. Imported dengue trends reflect both Australian travel destinations and patterns and local epidemiology in endemic countries.© International Society of Travel Medicine 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.

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