DENGUE FEVER EPIDEMIC IN INDIA -A REVIEW OF CLINICAL FEATURES, DIAGNOSIS, PREVENTION & MEDICATIONS

Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes. It is found mostly during and shortly after the rainy season in tropical and subtropical areas of: Africa ,Southeast Asia , China ,India ,Middle East Caribbean ,Central ,South America, Australia and the South and Central Pacific .Dengue fever was previously 'break-bone fever' because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain Though dengue is a very highly infectious disease, its mortality rate is very low. Deaths usually occur due to ignorance of the methods of treatment. In advanced countries, the mortality rates of dengue are almost zero. However it is necessary to prevent the disease due to the painful symptoms that it causes as long as it lasts. Dengue fever can be caused by any one of four types of dengue virus: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4. Infection with one virus does not protect a person against infection with another. Dengue virus is prevalent in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and each year infects about 50 million to100 million people. It accounts for 25,000 deaths annually, most of them in children. People contract dengue fever from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. Mosquitoes become infected when they bite infected humans, and later transmit infection to other people they bite. The risk factors for dengue fever are as follows:traveling to or living in endemic or outbreak areas, especially if no mosquito control is attempted by the people or government; mosquito bites a repeated infection with another serovar of dengue virus with antibodies in the serum active against the first infecting serovar and not taking precautions to avoid mosquito bites. The WHO says some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of the world's population, are now at risk from dengue and estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide every year. The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries. There is no specific medication for treatment of a dengue infection. Persons who think they have dengue should use analgesics (pain relievers) with acetaminophen and avoid those containing aspirin. They should also rest, drink plenty of fluids, and consult a physician. After more than a decade of development at the National Institutes of Health in U.S, a vaccine to prevent infection by the mosquito-borne dengue virus has begun human clinical testing