Disease
Dengue fever
Aedes-borne 'breakbone' fever
DEN-gay
High-yield clue
High fever with severe retro-orbital pain and 'breakbone' myalgias after an Aedes mosquito bite in the tropics is the classic dengue clue.
Overview
A mosquito-borne febrile illness caused by dengue virus, studied for its warning-sign progression to severe dengue and its Aedes-vector epidemiology.
Classification
- Arboviral febrile illness
- Flavivirus infection
- Aedes aegypti/albopictus vector
- Tropical and subtropical
Lab & identification clues
- Thrombocytopenia and leukopenia vocabulary
- NS1 antigen and IgM serology concept
- Hemoconcentration in severe dengue vocabulary
Associations
- Aedes aegypti daytime-biting mosquito transmission
- Warning signs: abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, mucosal bleeding
- Severe dengue: plasma leak and shock (antibody-dependent enhancement)
- Four serotypes; second infection carries higher severity risk
Commonly confused with
- Malaria
- Chikungunya
- Zika virus infection
Your notes
Original student-study summary. Sources checked: OpenStax Microbiology 2e, NCBI Bookshelf Medical Microbiology, and CDC topic pages where applicable; reviewed 2026-06. Educational only; no diagnosis, treatment, dosing, or specimen-handling guidance.