Dengue Fever

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease caused by the dengue viruses. There are four distinct but related virus serotypes all of which can cause dengue fever or the more serious forms of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). These serotypes are all antigenically related and each of them can cause dengue fever (DF) or the more serious forms of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Infection with one of these serotypes provides immunity to only that serotype for life, so a person living in a dengue-endemic area can have more than one dengue infection during their lifetime.

Dengue fever is typically a self-limited (resolves without treatment), fever inducing illness, often accompanied by considerable pain. DHF and DSS are the more severe, life threatening forms of dengue fever typically distinguished from classical dengue fever by hemorrhagic manifestations.