Dengue virus (DENV) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions, causing hundreds of millions of infections each year.  Infections range from asymptomatic to a self-limited febrile illness, dengue fever (DF), to the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS).  The expanding of the habitat of DENV-transmitting mosquitoes has resulted in dramatic increases in the number of cases over the past 50 years, and recent outbreaks have occurred in the United States.  Developing DENV-specific vaccines and antivirals is a global health priority.  DENV vaccine and antiviral development is challenging due to the existence of four serotypes of DENV (DENV1-4), which a vaccine or an antiviral must protect against.  Additionally, the adaptive immune response to DENV may be both protective and pathogenic upon subsequent infection, and the precise features of protective versus pathogenic host response to DENV are unknown, complicating vaccine and antiviral development.

Dengue virus: A major public health problem worldwide

247th National Meeting (2014)

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