Abstract
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that is caused by the dengue virus (DENV) and that represents an important public health problem in tropical and subtropical countries. Because it is carried by mosquitos, there were no cases of domestic infection in Japan for the last 70 years. However, 162 persons were infected with DENV in Japan last year, possibly due to the changes in climate or human migration. Research on dengue has a long history, but many important questions have not yet been answered. For instance, it is still unknown why severe dengue occurs when a patient is secondarily infected with a different serotype of DENV. It is believed that severe dengue is the result of vascular leakage induced by an excessive host defense reaction, but it remains unknown what triggers the change in vascular permeability. DENV-infected patients often show thrombocytopenia, a typical symptom of dengue, but it is not known what causes the thrombocytopenia and if there is a correlation between thrombocytopenia and vascular leakage. This review describes the features of DENV infection and the current state of developing dengue vaccines and treatments.
