Knowledge gaps and model challenges related to dengue and other arboviral diseases. Dr Mario Recker, University of Exeter

The emergence and wide-spread circulation of mosquito-transmitted viral diseases, such as dengue, Zika and Chikungunya, is a global public health concern. In the absence of effective vaccines, current control measures are mostly targeted against the mosquito vector and have so far only shown limited success. The reliance on mosquitoes for transmission also imposes strong ecological constraints that can introduce significant spatial and temporal variations in disease incidence. However, the way that epidemiological and ecological factors interact and determine population-level disease dynamics is only partially understood and also requires careful consideration when expressed by means of mathematical models. Here I will discuss some of the challenges when modelling the transmission dynamics of arboviral diseases and inferred gaps in our understanding that are crucial for making models relevant for public health planning.