Dengue virus belongs to family Flaviviridae, having four serotypes that spread by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes. It causes a wide spectrum of illness from mild asymptomatic illness to severe fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). Approximately 2.5 billion people live in dengue-risk regions with about 100 million new cases each year worldwide. The cumulative dengue diseases burden has attained an unprecedented proportion in recent times with sharp increase in the size of human population at risk. Dengue disease presents highly complex pathophysiological, economic and ecologic problems. In India, the first epidemic of clinical dengue-like illness was recorded in Madras (now Chennai) in 1780 and the first virologically proved epidemic of dengue fever (DF) occurred in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Eastern Coast of India in 1963-1964. During the last 50 years a large number of physicians have treated and described dengue disease in India, but the scientific studies addressing various problems of dengue disease have been carried out at limited number of centres. Achievements of Indian scientists are considerable; however, a lot remain to be achieved for creating an impact. This paper briefly reviews the extent of work done by various groups of scientists in this country.

Dengue in India

Background
Co-circulation of multiple dengue virus serotypes has been reported from many parts of the world including India, however concurrent infection with more than one serotype of dengue viruses in the same individual is rarely documented. An outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) occurred in and around Delhi in 2006. This is the first report from India with high percentage of concurrent infections with different dengue virus serotypes circulating during one outbreak.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/1743-422X-5-1.pdf

Concurrent infections by all four dengue virus serotypes during an outbreak of dengue in 2006 in Delhi, India.

Adult and child malaria mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey

Dengue is the most important mosquito-borne, human viral disease in many tropical and sub-tropical areas. In India the disease has been essentially described in the form of case series. We reviewed the epidemiology of dengue in India to improve understanding of its evolution in the last 50 years and support the development of effective local prevention and control measures. Early outbreak reports showed a classic epidemic pattern of transmission with sporadic outbreaks, with low to moderate numbers of cases, usually localized to urban centres and neighbouring regions, but occasionally spreading and causing larger epidemics. Trends in recent decades include: larger and more frequent outbreaks; geographic expansion of endemic transmission; spread of the disease from urban to peri-urban and rural areas; an increasing proportion of severe cases and deaths; and progression to hyperendemicity, particularly in large urban areas. The global picture of dengue in India is currently that of a largely endemic country. Understanding demographic differences in infection rates and severity of dengue has important implications for the planning and implementation of effective public health prevention and control measures and targeting of future vaccination campaigns.

Fifty years of dengue in India.

Dengue vaccines are currently in development and policymakers need appropriate economic studies to determine their potential financial and public health impact. We searched five databases (PubMed, EMBASE, LILAC, EconLit, and WHOLIS) to identify health economics studies of dengue. Forty-three manuscripts were identified that provided primary data: 32 report economic burden of dengue and nine are comparative economic analyses assessing various interventions. The remaining two were a willingness-to-pay study and a policymaker survey. An expert panel reviewed the existing dengue economic literature and recommended future research to fill information gaps. Although dengue is an important vector-borne disease, the economic literature is relatively sparse and results have often been conflicting because of use of inconsistent assumptions. Health economic research specific to dengue is urgently needed to ensure informed decision making on the various options for controlling and preventing this disease.

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Health Economics of Dengue: A Systematic Literature Review and Expert Panel's Assessment

Background
A major DHF outbreak occurred in Delhi in 1996. Following this another outbreak was reported in the year 2003. In the years 2004 and 2005, though no outbreak was reported, a definitely higher number of samples were received in the virology laboratory of A.I.I.M.S. from suspected cases of dengue infection. This study was designed to compare the serological and virological profiles of confirmed dengue cases in the years 2003, 2004 and 2005.

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Geetanjali Kapoor

Papers

The changing epidemiology of dengue in Delhi, India

Fusion based fast de-fogging for foggy images