The number of new cases of Dengue infection reached a record high in 2024, researchers have said, with cases topping more than 14 million last year. 

The research team, led by Dr Najmul Haider in Keele’s School of Life Sciences, said that the 14.1m Dengue cases reported globally last year represents a two-fold increase in cases since 2023, and a 12-fold increase since 2014. There were also 9,508 deaths recorded worldwide from Dengue fever, representing 0.07% of the total number of cases. 

However, despite the worsening nature of the global Dengue epidemic in recent years, current trends show that cases in 2025 are starting to decline, after several years of increasing cases in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. In first four months of 2024, there were 8.4m cases recorded, but in 2025 there were 2.5m cases recorded during the same time.  

The researchers analysed data from the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) global surveillance system for the calendar year 2024, to not only look at changes in case numbers and fatalities, but also the variations between continents, northern and southern hemisphere countries, and tropical or subtropical areas of the world. 

Their analysis, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, showed that the highest number of cases were recorded in South America (11.9m cases) including 10 m cases in Brazil alone, followed by North America (1.1m cases), and Asia (884,000 cases). 

Despite this record high in 2024, case numbers have begun to decline in 2025 according to WHO data, and Dr Haider and his colleagues have called for more investment in new treatments and interventions, and for the WHO to include Dengue virus in its Research and Development Priority Disease list, in the hope that this trend can be continued. 

Dr Haider, Lecturer in Epidemiology in Keele’s School of Life Sciences, said: “Including dengue in the WHO’s Research & Development Blueprint could accelerate the development of vaccines, diagnostics, and innovative vector control strategies.”