Identification of All Dengue Serotypes in Nepal

Identifi cation of All Dengue Serotypes in NepalTo the Editor: Nepal is situated on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, surrounded by India on 3 sides and China to the north.Nepal's altitude ranges from 8,848 m in the Himalayas to 90 m in the Terai, the southern, low, fl atland bordering India.Nepal is a disease-endemic area for many vector-borne diseases, including malaria, kala-azar, Japanese encephalitis, and lymphatic fi lariasis.Because of the porous border between Nepal and India, social, cultural, and economic activities in cross-border areas are common.Dengue is an emerging disease in Nepal; presumably transmission is moving north from India into the Terai (1-5).The fi rst report of dengue virus isolation or RNA (serotype 2 with nucleotide homology closest to a dengue virus type 2 isolate from India) was in 2008 involving a Japanese patient returning from Nepal in October 2004 (5).Entomologic investigations from the 1980s showed Aedes albopictus in the Terai plains, but Ae. aegypti has not been previously reported.