Commentary

Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne illness in the world, and cases continue to surge with the expanding range of the Aedes vector.1 In 2024, more than 12.6 million dengue cases were reported in the Americas, the largest on record and triple the number of cases in 2023.2 Increasing prevalence is likely due to a combination of globalization, climate change, and more robust reporting mechanisms. International travel and population growth facilitate vector transmission, and increasing levels of plastics and other debris provide the ecological milieu for Aedes breeding.