Dengue is an acute febrile disease caused by a virus, one of the major public health problems in the world. Its main vector of transmission is the mosquito Aedes aegypti, which develops in tropical and subtropical areas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 50 and 100 million people become infected with dengue annually in more than 100 countries on all continents except Europe. Approximately 550,000 patients require hospitalization and 20,000 die from dengue.
There are four types of dengue, because the virus that causes dengue has four serotypes: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4. Infection by one of them gives permanent protection for the same serotype, but temporary and partial immunity against the other three.
Although it seems little aggressive, the disease can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome, characterized by bleeding and blood pressure drop, which increases the risk of death. The best way to combat this evil is acting preventively, preventing mosquito breeding.
In 1865 described the first case of dengue fever in Brazil, in Recife, and is considered epidemic in 1846, when it spread to many states, such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It is believed that the mosquito Aedes aegypti arrived in Brazil by slave ships, since the first appearances mosquito occurred in the African continent. In the early twentieth century, the doctor Oswaldo Cruz implemented a program to combat the mosquito that arrived to eliminate dengue in the country during the 1950s.
However, dengue happened again in Brazil in the 1980s Nowadays, the four types of virus circulating in the country, that were recorded 587 800 cases of dengue in 2014, according to the Ministry of Health.
We must say "dengue" or "dengue"?
The most correct way from the point of view of grammar, is "dengue" in the male. However, it is also right to say "dengue", which today is the form most used by the population and to accept dictionaries.