She is a student of Biochemistry, currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. Her interests include writing about emerging diseases around the globe.

A mosquito-borne disease, dengue fever is found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Dengue viruses belong to the family Flaviviridae, specifically the genus Flavivirus. The dengue virus is part of this genus, which also contains several other viruses that cause illnesses in humans and are spread by mosquitoes and ticks. According to estimates, 40–50% of the world’s population is at risk for dengue in tropical, subtropical, and, more recently, temperate regions after the disease’s incidence has skyrocketed in recent decades. Dengue in Pakistan is an ever-expanding threat that needs urgent addressing.

Susumu Hotta and Ren Kimura identified the dengue virus for the first time in 1943. These two researchers examined patient blood samples collected during the dengue outbreak in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1943. Walter Schlesinger and Albert B. Sabin isolated the dengue virus a year later. Four closely related viruses—DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4—cause dengue illnesses. Because each of these four viruses interacts differently with the antibodies in human blood serum, they are referred to as serotypes.

More than 8500 dengue-related deaths and more than 13 million illnesses have been reported worldwide since the start of 2024. Over 11 million cases were recorded in 2024, with 53% of those instances being laboratory-verified, making the WHO PAHO region the site of the majority of illnesses worldwide. There have been almost 6,000 deaths in PAHO as a result of dengue illnesses (case fatality rate: 0.057%). With almost 9.5 million cases reported in 2024, Brazil has led the pack, followed by Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, and Colombia. As of September 2024, France, Italy, and Spain have reported autochthonous cases in mainland Europe.

Some basic rules are suggested by national health institutions and authorities for the prevention of dengue. These include the following:

Wearing long sleeves, long pants, socks, and shoes when approaching mosquito-infested areas is advised.

Applying permethrin to bed nets, shoes, clothes, and camping equipment helps ward........

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