What is a reservoir for Dengue?

• A. Bats
• B. Humans
• C. Cattle
• D. Birds

Answer: (B)

Reservoir is the host in which a pathogen naturally lives and multiplies, providing the source from which vectors or other hosts can become infected. For dengue, transmission occurs primarily in an urban cycle between humans and Aedes mosquitoes. When a person is viremic, a biting mosquito can acquire the virus and later transmit it to other people, so humans continuously sustain the infection within communities. Although there is a sylvatic cycle involving nonhuman primates in some regions, the everyday public health understanding is that humans are the main reservoir driving dengue outbreaks. Other animals like bats, cattle, or birds do not serve as the reservoir for dengue in typical transmission dynamics.