Dengue: current scenario

Abstract

Introduction: Dengue is a tropical infectious disease caused by a virus with four serotypes and transmitted for a mosquito of the gender Aedes. The incidence of the disease is on rise.

Objective: Describe the main characteristics of the disease, treatment and prevention reflected in the recent literature.

Method: It was used the search motor Academic Google. Was consulted free access articles in Spanish and English, were included 59 of them.

Results: Around the world the annual incidence is near 400 millions of affected. Epidemiological studies are crucial for the development of control strategies. The clinical spectrum is varied. Confirmatory diagnosis usually is usually established by the presence of specific antibodies. There is no specific antiviral therapy available, supportive treatment is recommended. The challenge in developing a vaccine is to provide antibodies against all four serotypes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an underreporting of cases has been observed; the coincidence of both processes is not uncommon.

Conclusions: Dengue has a high impact, it produces a wide range of clinical manifestations, which can cause death if there is no diagnostic expertise when evaluating alarm signs, it is for this reason that global efforts are made with prevention campaigns to avoid the spread of dengue, contagion and transmission of the virus, and research is recommended for both specific drugs and the vaccine to be developed.