The Northern Territory remains free of dengue fever vectors

The text of this article was updated in 1992.In 1981-82 there was a large outbreak of indigenous dengue fever in Queensland. This was the first outbreak in Queensland for almost 40 years and the first indigenous case of dengue in Australia for 26 years. There have been further smaller outbreaks in Queensland in 1990, 1992, and 1996. The mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, is widespread in Queensland, from Mt. Isa in the west, to Roma and Gladstone in the South East. There have been no cases of this disease contracted in the Northern Territory during these outbreaks, primarily because the vector is absent. However the Northern Territory is both vulnerable and receptive to the importation of vectors of this important mosquito borne disease