Epidemiology of Dengue Virus Infection: A Public Health Report

This report provides an overview of the epidemiology of dengue virus infections, focusing on case definitions, clinical descriptions, and laboratory criteria for diagnosis. It examines how case definitions have evolved over time due to antigenic shifts in the virus. The report presents cumulative incidence data for 2015 and 2010, highlighting regional variations and seasonal distributions in countries like the Philippines, Korea, and Japan. It discusses the role of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in transmission and references key studies on global dengue trends. The report emphasizes the significance of understanding dengue epidemiology for effective public health interventions and disease control strategies. The report also provides comparative studies of the trends of imported Dengue cases in Korea and Japan.

Running head: EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
Epidemology
Dengue virus infections
2015 Case definition
CSTE Position Statement(s)
14-ID-10
Subtype(s)
Dengue
Dengue fever
Severe dengue
Background
Dengue is a lethal disease caused due to any four of the viruses (DENV-1, -2, -3, and -4). It is a
problem of concern world wide. About 400 millions of cases about the DENV cases have been
reported (Ferreira, 2012). DENV are transmitted through the vector Aedes aegypti. These
mosquitoes are endemic in the tropical countries; the people from the tropical countries are more
susceptible to the disease ("Nationally Notifiable Diseases | Healthy Water | CDC", 2017)
Laboratory criteria for the diagnosis of dengue virus
Confirmatory tests:

2EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
 Diagnosis of the dengue virus in the plasma serum, blood, CSF of brain and other body
fluids by using polymerase chain reaction.
 Isolation of the DENV by the cell culture of the plasma of the serum or the specimen of
CSF.
 Identification of the IgM anti DENV by immunoassay of the serum specimen.
 Identification of the DENV antigen in the immune fluorescence assay.
 Identification of IgM anti-DENV by the immunoassay in the serum or CSF in a person
who stays in an area that is dengue endemic or non-endemic or recent vaccination against
a flavivirus.
2010 Case definition of dengue virus infections
Clinical Description
It is an acute feverish illness that is characterized by retro-ocular pain, frontal headache, pain in
muscles and joints, followed by rashes. The communicable disease is spread by the mosquito Aedes
aegypti and is confined to the tropical countries. Manifestations like dengue hemorrhagic fever is
rare, but can be lethal. ("Nationally Notifiable Diseases | Healthy Water | CDC", 2017).
Laboratory Criteria for the Diagnosis
 Detection of dengue virus from serum and autopsy samples.
 Detection of a fourfold increase or fall in reciprocal IgG or IgM antibody titers in serum
samples to one or more dengue virus antigens.
 Detection of dengue virus antigen in autopsy tissue samples by immunofluorescence
technique or by using hybridization probe.

3EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
How the case definitions have changed with time?
Lineage antigenic shift in the antigenic property of the dengue virus has lead to the
changes in the case definition of the dengue virus. Envelope of the virus is the major antigenic
proteins that cater to the antigenic shift in the virus. The pathogens are becoming immune to the
different generations of the antibiotics. Due to this shift the different diagnostic procedures and
the medications are altering itself (Guha-Sapir & Schimmer, 2005). Further more different
strains of the virus are being discovered, which have different mechanisms of pathogenecity
which have expanded the paws of the disease.
Cumulative incidence
Cumulative incidence for year 2015
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) has noted about 55,079
suspected cases of dengue virus infection from January 1 to August 8, 2015.
This record is 9.15% higher than the 50,462 cases that have been recorded during the same
period in 2014.
It was found that most of the cases involve Calabarzon (15.2 %), Northern Mindanao (8.7%),
and central Luzon (13%).
Cumulative incidence for the year 2010
There had been 893 reported cases about the deaths for dengue virus in Korea and 1,054
in Japan in between the years 2011 and 2015. Cumulative incidence shows that, in spite of
Japan’s big population the number of overseas travelers did not differ from that of Korea. These
results indicate that the Koreans travel overseas, more than the Japanese. In south east Asia

4EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
Korea and Japan has shown the maximum cases of infection about 89.4% vs. 75.4%,
respectively. It should be noted that the Philippines and Indonesia were the leading origin
countries for most of the Korean and Japanese cases. Seasonal distribution analyses that August
and September were the months during which most of the cases have been found to occur in
Korea and Japan, respectively (Guha-Sapir & Schimmer, 2005). The following differences are
due to the difference in the timings and the travel destinations.

5EPIDEMOLOGY OF DENGUE VIRUS INFECTION
References
Ferreira, G. L. (2012). Global dengue epidemiology trends. Revista do Instituto de Medicina
Tropical de São Paulo, 54, 5-6.
Guha-Sapir, D., & Schimmer, B. (2005). Dengue fever: new paradigms for a changing
epidemiology. Emerging themes in epidemiology, 2(1), 1.
Miki, S., Lee, W.-C., & Lee, M.-J. (2017). A Comparative Study of the Trends of Imported
Dengue Cases in Korea and Japan 2011 - 2015. Journal of Clinical Medicine
Research, 9(7), 650–653. http://doi.org/10.14740/jocmr3022w
Nationally Notifiable Diseases | Healthy Water | CDC. (2017). Cdc.gov. Retrieved 31 August
2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/statistics/surveillance/notifiable.html