Dengue fever occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world, including north Queensland. Although the mosquito capable of spreading dengue is found in Queensland as far south as Roma in the inland and Gladstone on the coast, and as far west as Camooweal, the area at particular risk for acquiring dengue is coastal to sub coastal Queensland north of Bowen. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have not been established in the Northern Territory (NT) since the 1950s and there has been no dengue fever transmitted in the NT since then.
The mosquito is imported periodically into Darwin on overseas vessels such as foreign fishing vessels and cargo ships, but has been detected and eliminated each time. Dengue mosquitoes were imported into Tennant Creek from Queensland in 2004 and 2011 and on Groote Eylandt in 2006. Surveys continue in the NT to ensure early detection and identification of any importation of the dengue mosquito. For the past 60 years all persons notified with dengue fever in the NT have been interviewed to confirm that the disease was acquired in known dengue endemic areas overseas or in north Queensland. Between 2003 and 2013 there have been 404 cases of dengue notified in the NT. These were acquired mostly in Indonesia or East Timor. Mosquito surveys by the Department of Health continue to ensure that knowledge about the presence of any exotic mosquito population remains current. Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease of human, with a 30 fold increase in global incidence over the last five decades. It is a major public health concern throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Almost half the world's population lives in countries where dengue is endemic. According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 50–100 million new dengue infections are estimated to occur annually in more than 100 endemic countries, with a steady increase in the number of
countries reporting the disease.