1. Overview
Dengue, also known as “breakbone fever,” due to the intense pain experienced by some patients, is a mosquito-borne viral illness found throughout the tropics and recognized as a worldwide problem since the 1950s. During the 1960s and 1970s, it progressively increased as a health problem, spreading from its primary location in tropical countries to smaller cities and towns in endemic countries. Nowadays, dengue is considered an emerging disease, with reported cases increasing globally every year, making it the most common arthropod-borne disease in the world. The infection is caused by the dengue virus, transmitted to humans through the bite of the Aedes mosquito. The disease has a large percentage of clinically asymptomatic cases.…show more content… Dengue infections can be asymptomatic or produce several syndromes that are conditioned by age and immunological status, the most common being an early febrile stage (including fever, malaise, headache, body pains, and rash), that can be followed by a tendency for bleeding that can progress to severe hemorrhages. Dengue is now considered a global health threat, endemic or epidemic in almost every country located in the tropics. It is estimated that there are over 100 million cases of dengue worldwide each year. Because dengue is a nationally notifiable disease, all suspected cases should be reported to the local country’s health…show more content… Epidemiology
Dengue remained a relatively minor, geographically restricted disease until the middle of the
20th century. The disruption of the second world war, in particular, the coincidental transport of Aedes mosquitoes around the world in cargo, are thought to have played a crucial role in the dissemination of dengue viruses. Dengue hemorrhagic fever was first documented only in the
1950s during epidemics in the Philippines and Thailand, but it was not until 1981 that large numbers of cases appeared in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Today about 2.5 billion people (or 40% of the world’s population) live in areas where there is a risk of dengue transmission. Dengue is endemic throughout the tropics and subtropics, in more than 100 countries worldwide (maps 1, 2 and 3), and is a leading cause of illness among travelers returning from tropical countries. The World Health Organization estimates that 50 to 100 million infections occur yearly, including 500,000 dengue hemorrhagic fever cases and 22,000 deaths, mostly among