Epidemiological Profile and Laboratory Characteristics of Dengue Virus Infection during 2011 Outbreak in Rawalpindi, Islamabad Pakistan

Dengue Virus (DENV) belongs to the genus flavivirus and family flaviviradae. It is an enveloped positive sense single stranded 11000 nucleotides long RNA virus that caused emerging mosquito borne tropical disease afflicting humanity [1]. There are four different serotypes of dengue virus; DENV-1, DENV2, DENV-3 and DENV-4 that are responsible for dengue viral infection in different regions of the world and their prevalence vary temporally [2]. The infection caused by only one serotype is usually a mild and self limiting. The more severe form of dengue infection is dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) responsible for high morbidity and mortality in various parts of the world [3]. Globally, more than 100 million cases of dengue virus infection with 25000 estimated deaths have been reported annually and there are more than 100 countries where disease is endemic [4]. Similarly, more than 1.8 billion of world population is at risk for dengue virus infection that lives in member states of World Health Organization, South East Asia and Western Pacific Zone and bears 75% of global disease burden of dengue virus infection [5,6]. The incidence of dengue infection has been increasing worldwide, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions [1].