Scientists believe dengue fever will spread rapidly across the globe over the coming decades (Image: GETTY)
A new study has predicted the viral infection, which is present in regions lived in by about half the world’s population, will affect up to 6 billion people by the end of the century. This mean between 2015 and 2080, an extra two billion people will be at risk of becoming infected with the virus. Dengue has spread throughout tropical regions of the world over the past 60 years and is common in warmer parts of the globe such as India and Brazil.
Aedes mosquitoes - the insects responsible for the spread of Zika - carry dengue, nicknamed breakbone fever. It cannot be spread from person to person.
Research published in the Nature Microbiology journal on Monday predicts dengue will move into parts of the South East of the US, coastal regions of China and Japan, and the Australian outback.
Every year there 100million cases of the virus declared across more than 125 countries.
Symptoms
