Dengue Fever

Excerpt

Dengue is a mosquito-transmitted virus and is the leading cause of arthropod-borne viral disease worldwide, posing a significant global health concern. This disease is also known by various monikers, such as breakbone or 7-day fever, and is characterized by intense muscle spasms, joint pain, and high fever, reflecting both the severity and the duration of symptoms. Although most dengue fever cases are asymptomatic, severe illness and mortality can occur. Aedes mosquitoes, primarily including the female vectors Aedes aegypti and A albopictus, transmit the virus and are common in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.

The incidence of dengue fever has increased dramatically over the past few decades, and the infection is now endemic in some parts of the world, possibly due to increased global travel. Dengue fever poses a significant public health challenge, with over 100 million cases annually and 20 to 25,000 deaths, marked by epidemics across different regions globally. After infection with a subspecies known as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), some individuals previously infected with one subspecies of the dengue virus (DENV) develop severe capillary permeability and bleeding. Although the symptoms and signs overlap with several viral prodromes, the identifying features are discussed in the next sections.