Dengue fever Crossword Puzzle for Kids

Dengue fever (pronounced "DEN-gi") is a tropical infectious disease caused by the dengue virus. People get the dengue virus from mosquitoes. Dengue fever is also called break-bone fever, because it can cause so much pain that people feel like their bones are breaking.

Most people with dengue fever can get better just by drinking enough water. However, a small number of people get dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome. These are medical emergencies and can kill a person if they do not get medical treatment.

There is no vaccine that can keep people from getting the dengue virus. There is also no treatment to cure dengue fever. Doctors can only provide "supportive care," which means they can only treat dengue's symptoms.

Since the 1960s, more people have been getting dengue fever. Since World War II, dengue has become a problem around the world. It is common in more than 110 countries. Every year, between 50 million and 100 million people get dengue fever. Climate change means that there are more mosquitoes. In Brazil it is expected that there will be at least twice as many cases in 2024 than in 2023.

Signs and symptoms

80% of people who get the dengue virus have no symptoms, or have only mild symptoms (like a basic fever). About 5% of infected people get much sicker. A small number of those infected have symptoms that could kill them.

After a person gets the dengue virus from a mosquito, it takes between 3 and 14 days for them to get sick. (This is called the virus's incubation period.)

Often, when children have dengue fever, their symptoms are the same as gastroenteritis (stomach flu), like vomiting and diarrhea, or the common cold. Children are more likely to have bad complications from dengue fever.

Dengue fever happens in three stages: febrile, critical, and recovery.

In the febrile stage, people with dengue usually have a high fever. ("Febrile" means that a person has a fever.) The fever is often over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Sometimes the fever gets better, and then comes back.

Cause

Dengue fever is caused by the dengue virus. In the scientific system that classifies viruses, the dengue virus is part of the family Flaviviridae and the genus Flavivirus. Other viruses that belong to the same family and can make humans sick include yellow fever virus, West Nile virus, Zika virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and tick-borne encephalitis virus. Most of these viruses are spread by mosquitoes or ticks.

Dengue virus is spread mostly by mosquitoes from the Aedes genus, especially the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito. Aides aegypti is the most likely type of mosquito to spread dengue, because it likes to live close to humans and feed off of people instead of animals. A person can get the dengue virus from just one mosquito bite.

Sometimes, mosquitoes can also get dengue from humans. If a female mosquito bites someone with dengue, the mosquito may get the dengue virus from the person's blood. After about 8 to 10 days, the virus spreads to the mosquito's salivary glands, which make saliva (or "spit"). Now the mosquito will make saliva that is infected with the dengue virus. When the mosquito bites a human, its infected saliva goes into the human and can give that person dengue.

A person can also get the dengue virus if they get a blood transfusion or organ donation from someone who has the virus. In some countries where dengue is common, like Singapore, between 1.6 and 6 blood transfusions out of every 10,000 spread dengue.

The dengue virus can also be spread from a mother to her fetus during pregnancy, or when the child is born. This is called vertical transmission.

Diagnosis

Usually, doctors diagnose dengue by examining the infected person and realizing that their symptoms match dengue. However, when dengue is in its early stages, it can be difficult to tell the difference between this disease and other infections caused by viruses.

The World Health Organization says that a person probably has dengue if:

A positive tourniquet test. (To do this test, a doctor wraps a blood pressure cuff around a person's arm for five minutes, then counts any red spots on the skin. If the person has many spots, they are more likely to have dengue fever.)

The World Health Organization also says that in areas where dengue is common, any warning signs, plus a fever, usually signal that a person has dengue fever.

Some blood tests show changes when a person has dengue fever. The earliest change is a low number of white blood cells in the blood. A low number of platelets can also signal dengue. Special blood tests can look for the dengue virus itself; the virus's nucleic acids; or the antibodies that the immune system makes to fight off the virus. However, these special tests are expensive. Also, in many areas (such as where dengue is common), most doctors and clinics do not have laboratories for blood tests or special machines.

Prevention

There are no vaccines that can keep people from getting the dengue virus. The best ways to prevent dengue are to protect people from mosquito bites and to control the mosquito population.

The best way to control the mosquito is to get rid of the places it lives. The best way to do this is to get rid of areas with standing water (water that does not move). Mosquitoes like standing water and often lay its eggs there. To prevent getting bitten by mosquitoes, people can:

The WHO suggests a program for preventing dengue (called an "Integrated Vector Control" program) that includes five different parts:

Advocacy, people working together, and legislation (laws) should be used to make public health organizations and communities stronger.

All parts of society should work together. This includes the public sector (like the government), the private sector (like businesses and corporations), and the health care field.

Treatment

There are no specific treatments for dengue fever. No known anti-viral medications (medicines which kill viruses) will kill the dengue virus. Health workers can give "supportive treatment" - treat dengue's symptoms to try to make patients feel better. Different people need different treatments, depending on their symptoms. Some people can get better just by drinking fluids at home, and checking with their doctor to make sure they are getting better.

Treating dehydration is very important. Sometimes, people are so dehydrated that they need intravenous fluids - fluids given through a needle placed into a vein. Usually, people only need intravenous fluids for a day or two.

Doctors can give medicines like acetaminophen (paracetamol) for fever and pain. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and aspirin should not be used because they make bleeding more likely.

People with bad dengue may need blood transfusions. Having extra blood will help a person if their blood pressure is getting very low (like it does in dengue shock syndrome) or if they do not have enough red blood cells in their blood (because they are bleeding from dengue hemorrhagic fever).

When people reach the recovery stage of dengue, doctors usually stop giving intravenous fluids to prevent fluid overload (having too much fluid in the body). If a person gets fluid overload, doctors can give a type of medication called a diuretic, which will make the patient urinate out the extra fluid.

Prognosis

Most people with dengue recover and don't have any problems afterward. Without treatment, 1% to 5% of infected people die from dengue. With good treatment, less than 1% die. However, 26% of people with severe dengue die.

Epidemiology

Dengue is common in more than 110 countries. Every year, it infects 50 to 100 million people around the world. It also causes half a million hospitalizations and about 12,500 to 25,000 deaths. The World Health Organization says that dengue fever is not taken as seriously as it should be. It calls dengue one of 16 "neglected tropical diseases" - diseases which do not get enough attention. In every million people, dengue causes about 1600 years of life to be lost. This is about the same as other tropical and deadly diseases, like tuberculosis. However, the WHO says the neglected tropical diseases, like dengue, do not get the attention and money that is needed to find treatments and cures.

Dengue is becoming much more common around the world. It is the most common viral disease that is spread by arthropods. In 2010, dengue was 30 times more common than it was in 1960. Scientists think dengue may be getting more common because:

There are more people in the world. The world's population is growing

More people are travelling internationally (between countries)

Global warming is thought to play a part in the increase in dengue.

Text adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Dengue fever” (revision 10831844, 2026-04-24), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.