Dengue!!! A Current Threat with Previous Experience

Authors

  • Sadia Choudhury Shimmi Department of Biomedical Science and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UMS
  • Mohd Yusuf Ibrahim
  • Kamruddin Ahmed

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51200/bjms.v13i3.1972

Keywords:

dengue, threat, current

Abstract

Dengue is a global health problem. Some countries describe it as ‘endemic’ where other countries as 'epidemic' according to the prevalence of the disease1. Dengue virus transmitted by the infected female Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, belongs to the genus Flavivirus which is an envelope positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus. Rainy season (June to October) is the prime time of spreading the infection in Southeast Asia. Four serotypes of dengue viruses (DEN1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4) are able to infect humans and cause dengue haemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome like severe infections. Moreover, cross-reactive antibodies (IgM and IgG) produce against other serotype when infection occurs with one serotype. This is one of the diagnostic problem for acute dengue2. Some researchers experienced that without warning signs and mild symptoms were found in DEN-1, severe dengue was found in DEN-2 patients as compared to other serotypes and musculoskeletal symptoms were prominent in DEN-3 infected patients. So that different receptors or organs are targeted to establish infection by different dengue serotypes3. This virus circulates in the blood of an infected person for 2 – 7 days, at that time the infected person develops a fever. After appearance of the first symptoms (for 4 – 5 days; maximum 12 days), infected patients can transmit the infection via Aedes mosquitoesdengue virus infection in humans ranging from clinically asymptomatic or transient nonspecific febrile illness to classical dengue fever (DF) and dengue haemorrhagic fever/ dengue shock syndrome (DHF/ DSS). Fever, headache, rash, bone and muscle pains with or without abdominal pain are the general clinical presentation of patients with DF and early DHF/DSS. Haemorrhagic manifestations such as haematuria, bleeding gums, epistaxis, hematemesis, melena, and ecchymosis develop in DHF. DHF patients develop thrombocytopaenia and haemoconcentration. Some patients may progress into DSS, leading to profound shock and death if not diagnosed or treated properly2.

Author Biographies

Mohd Yusuf Ibrahim

Borneo Medical and Health Research Centre. 

Department of Community and Family Medicine, 
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Kamruddin Ahmed

Borneo Medical and Health Research Centre. 

Department of Pathobiology and Medical Diagnostics, 
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Published

2019-09-28

How to Cite

Shimmi, S. C., Ibrahim, M. Y., & Ahmed, K. (2019). Dengue!!! A Current Threat with Previous Experience. Borneo Journal of Medical Sciences (BJMS), 13(3), 1. https://doi.org/10.51200/bjms.v13i3.1972
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