Dengue virus infection

Dengue, an illness caused by dengue virus (an arbovirus), is one of the neglected tropical diseases.1 The infection is endemic in more than 100 countries. Of the estimated 390 million dengue viral infections that occur worldwide annually,2 around 1% require hospital admission.3 Since the isolation of the dengue virus in India in 1945, an upsurge has been reported in the number of cases,2 with 99 913 cases during 2015.4 Although the mortality rate of dengue is low (0.3%-0.4%),3 large financial resources required for its control5 pose a huge challenge in developing countries such as India.