This, the sixth and last article in the series, focuses on exotic infections. Exotic infections are those that have not been endemic in the UK in the last two centuries, and they occur (or would occur) by being imported. The exotic infections fall into two main classes: those that are truly exotic, because the environmental conditions in the UK do not allow the vectors or other modes of transmission of infection to exist, and those that could be transmitted in the UK, but are unlikely to do so under present conditions. Dengue fever and malaria — both mosquito-borne infections, are examples of the first, while typhoid fever, smallpox and plague are examples of the latter, as these have been transmitted in the UK in the last 100 years.
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