Dengue is the most important vector-borne disease in the Americas and threatens the lifes of millions of people in developing countries. Imprecise IntroductionDengue is now the most important vector-borne disease in the Americas and threatens the health of millions of people that live in urban, suburban and rural environments. Clinical and public health services have been unable to diminish this disease since there is no vaccine available to prevent infection, no effective medical treatments that avert the development of severe symptoms and no sustainable control measures against the vector that guarantee protection of affected communities.Dengue was initially identified as breakbone fever in 1790 in Philadelphia, U.S.A 1 , and later spread throughout the Americas, until the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched an Aedes aegypti eradication campaign to combat yellow fever in the 1950s and 1960s that came close to eliminating the vector from the continent 2 . Although the geographical distribution of the vector is similar to its distribution before the eradication campaigns 3 , populations during the "eradication era" were principally rural. In the last 40 years, there has been intensive urbanization due to massive migration from agricultural areas to cities. Although urbanization in Latin America and the Caribbean had already reached 41% of the population by 1950, the population living in urban areas is expected to reach between 82 and 84% by 2030; by then the Latin America and Caribbean region will be the second most urbanized REVISÃO REVIEW Gómez-Dantés H, Willoquet JR S20 Cad. Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro,