Dengue: Symptoms, Spread, Treatment and Vaccine

Dengue is a viral disease caused by any of four closely related viruses: dengue virus 1, 2, 3 and 4. It spreads to people mainly through the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. Each year, up to 400 million people are infected, and a person can have dengue more than once in a lifetime.

Dengue spreads commonly in tropical and subtropical areas of the world.

Symptoms

The most common symptom is fever, along with any of:

• aches and pains: in the eyes (typically behind them), muscles, joints or bones;
• nausea and vomiting;
• rash.

Symptoms usually start within 2 weeks of the infected bite and last 2–7 days. Most people recover after about a week.

Treatment

There is no specific medicine for dengue.

• Rest as much as possible.
• Take acetaminophen to control fever and relieve pain.
• Drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.
• See a health care provider if you get a fever or other dengue symptoms, and mention any recent travel.

Prevention

The best protection is avoiding mosquito bites.

Vaccine. In the United States, a dengue vaccine is recommended for children aged 9 through 16 who have laboratory confirmation of a previous dengue infection and live where dengue is common. It is not approved for U.S. travelers who are only visiting such areas.

Sources

• CDC, "About Dengue": https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/about/index.html
• CDC dengue pages on symptoms and testing, areas with risk, how it spreads, prevention and the vaccine: https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/signs-symptoms/index.html, https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/areas-with-risk/index.html, https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/vaccine/index.html