Outbreaks resembling dengue fever have been reported throughout history (Gubler 1998).
Emerging evidence suggests that mycophenolic acid and ribavirin inhibit dengue replication.
Significant outbreaks of dengue fever tend to occur every five or six months.
The severe pain associated with dengue fever has lead to it also being called break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease.
Patients with dengue can pass on the infection only through mosquitoes or blood products and only while they are still febrile (have a fever).
Dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) is a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in several south-east Asian nations (Kouri et al.
Patients may receive paracetamol preparations to deal with these symptoms if dengue is suspected (CDC 2007).
Dengue shock syndrome is defined as dengue hemorrhagic fever plus weak rapid pulse, narrow pulse pressure (less than 20 mm Hg), and cold, clammy skin and restlessness.
Dengue is found in Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands, Africa, Middle East, and east Asia.
The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease (the so-called "biphasic pattern").
A small proportion of DHF cases lead to dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which has a high mortality rate.
Primary prevention of dengue mainly resides in mosquito control.
Uncomplicated dengue fever has an excellent prognosis, with almost 100 percent of patients recovering fully.
Dengue fever is caused by four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae (CDC 2008).
World Health Organization estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide each year (WHO 2008).
Halstead in the 1970s, that dengue hemorrhagic fever is more likely to occur in patients who have secondary infections by serotypes different from the primary infection.
The dengue type of virus is known as an arbovirus, arthropod-borne virus, because it is transmitted by mosquitoes, a type of arthropod.
The classic dengue symptoms are known as the '"dengue triad": fever, rash, and headache (Carson-DeWitt 2004).
By the late 1990s, dengue was the most important mosquito-borne disease affecting humans after malaria, there being around 40 million cases of dengue fever and several hundred thousand cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever each year.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a more severe illness that occurs when someone is reinfected with the virus after having recovered from an earlier incidence of dengue fever and the immune system overreacts (Carson-DeWitt 2004).