A DENGUE researcher has urged Far Northerners to "get back to basics" when it comes to helping keep dengue fever in check.

James Cook University scientist Dr Justine Thorp (pictured) has been studying the history of the potentially-deadly disease in Cairns, after it was introduced into Australia during early European settlement.

Dr Thorp said public officials during the early 1900s had undertaken a campaign urging Queenslanders to empty stagnant water out of containers in their backyards, during an outbreak in Brisbane.

"They were increasing the theme of personal responsibility for their own management of the back yard, thereby controlling disease - this has been a theme since the early 1900s," Dr Thorp said.

When the disease hit Cairns during World War II, householders were again asked to help in the mosquito eradication program by removing breeding sites from their homes, while the military concentrated on larger areas of water.

This effort was successful and resulted in a drop in both dengue fever and malaria by 1943.

While there have been several outbreaks since then, including last year when nearly 1000 people contracted dengue fever, Dr Thorp said there were lessons to be learnt from Cairns' past attempts to keep the disease in check.

"We just need to get back to basics and clean up the back yard, which in itself can create a lot of problems because the neighbours might not clean up their back yards and these little critters can fly 100m," she said.

"So you need good community relations."

This year, Queensland Health has reported no locally acquired cases of dengue fever in North Queensland and no evidence of local mosquitoes carrying the virus.

But a Queensland Health spokesman said imported cases of dengue were common with 28 reported last year.

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