Discovered several decades ago, dengue fever (DF) has grown and is now considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be one of the most important arthropod-borne viral diseases of humans and the most rapidly spread vector-borne disease. While it is commonly found in tropical regions and poor areas, dengue is observed to have increased 30-fold and expanded geographically to new countries where it was not present in the last five decades. Duane Gubler attributed the increase in the outbreak of DF in the last two decades of the 20th century to urban growth and little effort to control the mosquito vector. The fever, however, is caused by four distinct but closely related serotypes—DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4.

Although it cannot be transmitted from human to ...