Dengue is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of mosquitoes belonging to the genus Aedes. The disease is also called "bone-splitting" fever, in fact, begins with an increase in body temperature, followed by headache, pains around and behind the eyes, myalgia and arthralgias, maculo-papular skin eruptions, nausea, vomiting and other gastro-intestinal disorders.
In a small percentage of cases, a life-threatening form of dengue hemorrhagic develops, with thrombocytopenia, hemorrhagic manifestations and fluid loss, which can cause real collapses ( dengue with shock syndrome, DSS ).
Diagnosis is normally made based on symptoms, but can be confirmed by isolating the viral agent and identifying anti-dengue IgM antibodies in blood samples. The diagnostic investigations used, therefore, include serological tests ( ELISA ) and retro-transcription with the polymerase chain reaction ( RT-PCR ).
