Dengue Fever Essay

1. 1. Dengue

Dengue is the most common arboviral (arthropod-transmitted) disease and it also position as the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Approximately 2.5 billion people living in tropical and sub-tropical regions are at a great risk of dengue infection, which is almost equal to about two-fifths of the human population (Gubler & Clark, 1995; WHO, 2009). There is an estimated 50-100 million infections occurring globally in each year, with 500,000 cases requiring hospitalization and causing 24,000 deaths (Halstead, 1988; WHO, 1997). Furthermore, the increasing populations in tropical and sub-tropical regions, making dengue as a global threat to public health (UNEP 2009; Holden, 2009).

1. 2. Etymology

The origin of the word dengue derived from the Swahili phrase "Ka-dinga pepo", meaning "cramp-like seizure caused by an evil spirit". The Swahili word "dinga" may possibly have its origin in the Spanish word "dengue" meaning fastidious or careful, which would describe the way of walking of a person suffering the bone pain of dengue fever (Christie, 1881).

1. 3. Symptoms

Dengue is an acute febrile viral disease transmitted by mosquitos. There are 4 antigenically distinct serotypes of dengue virus – DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4. Each of the dengue virus serotypes is capable of causing severe dengue. Infection with one of the four serotypes of the dengue virus (DENV 1-4) can cause severe dengue and early viral burdens. Most of the dengue virus infections are asymptomatic while the rest result in a broad spectrum of disease that differs in severity from mild undifferentiated fever, i.e. the classical dengue fever (DF), to the potentially serious complications known as dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) an...

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...agic fever usually affects children younger than 15 years. However, in the Americas, where dengue is becoming progressively hyperendemic, dengue hemorrhagic fever shows no age predilection ( Suaya JA et al.,2009).

DENV is one of the world’s most geographically prevalent arthropod-borne viruses. Its geographical distribution is intrinsically attached to the range and habitat of its principal vector mosquitoes (Figure 1.5). Dengue infections are reported in more than hundreds of tropical and sub-tropical countries worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas where the vectors for dengue virus are commonly found. Dengue is hyper-endemic in many of these urban cores with co-circulation of multiple dengue virus serotypes. In non-tropical regions, dengue is usually spread by the international travellers that have visited dengue-endemic areas (Malavige GN et al.,2004).