Dengue risk re-evaluated: India research finds first infections can be as severe as secondary
dengue can be as life-threatening as the subsequent ones, according to a study which challenges the widely held belief that the viral disease is severe only in secondary infections. The research, published recently in the journal Nature Medicine, analysed severe dengue cases in a group of children in India, showing that more than half could be attributed to primary rather than secondary infection.
Over the past two decades, dengue infections have greatly increased in India and the country has one of the largest number of cases globally.
Dengue patients fall into two categories — those experiencing the infection for the first time, known as primary infections and those who get re-infected after a previous exposure, known as secondary infections.
The prevailing belief has been that only secondary infections pose significant risks, leading much of the research into vaccine development and treatment to focus on this group.
An international team led by researchers at the New Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) has now found that it is not just the secondary infections but primary ones as well which can be severe and could jeopardise the life of the patients.
The finding emphasises the need to re-evaluate the understanding of dengue and the strategies employed to combat the viral disease cause by the dengue virus (DENV), transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes.
«Dengue virus infection is a huge public health problem in India. Many patients develop
