Dengue Fever: New Tools for Treatment and Prevention

Dengue is a viral disease of leading public health impact worldwide. Transmitted by bites from infected Aedes spp. mosquitos, dengue virus (DENV) infections cause a wide range of clinical manifestations, including asymptomatic infection, dengue fever (DF), and dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). The pathogenesis of its most severe form, DHF/DSS, is not fully understood. With no licensed vaccine or specific antiviral therapy available, dengue prevention depends heavily on vector control efforts, which have proven difficult. Molecular and immunological tools have been indispensable to the development of DENV vaccine candidates, the identification of immunological correlates of protection, the early detection of disease prognosis and a better understanding of dengue pathogenesis. This chapter reviews the efforts, challenges and recent progress in the field towards dengue treatment and prevention.

Keywords: ADE, Clinical management, Dengue disease, Dengue fever, Dengue immunology, Dengue pathogenesis, Dengue vaccines, Dengue virus, DF, DHF, DSS, Flow cytometry, Immunological profile, MicroRNAs, Predictive markers, Reverse genetics, RNA interference, Small interfering RNAs, Therapeutics, Vaccine candidates, Vector control.