Etymology
The name came into English in the early 19th century from West Indian Spanish, which borrowed it from the Kiswahili term dinga (in full kidingapopo, "disease caused by an evil spirit"). The borrowed term changed to dengue in Spanish due to this word existing in Spanish with the meaning "fastidiousness" and this folk etymology referring to the dislike of movement by affected patients. Slaves in the West Indies having contracted dengue were said to have the posture and gait of a dandy, and the disease was known as "dandy fever".The term break-bone fever was applied by physician and United States Founding Father Benjamin Rush, in a 1789 report of the 1780 epidemic in Philadelphia. In the report title he uses the more formal term "bilious remitting fever". The term dengue fever came into general use only after 1828. Other historical terms include "breakheart fever" and "la dengue". Terms for severe disease include "infectious thrombocytopenic purpura" and "Philippine", "Thai", or "Singapore hemorrhagic fever". Society and culture
Blood donation
Outbreaks of dengue fever increase the need for blood products while decreasing the number of potential blood donors due to potential infection with the virus. Someone who has a dengue infection is typically not allowed to donate blood for at least the next six months. Awareness efforts
A National Dengue Day is held in India on 16 May in an effort to raise awareness in affected countries. Efforts are ongoing as of 2019 to make it a global event. The Philippines has an awareness month in June since 1998.
Research
Research efforts to prevent and treat dengue include various means of vector control, vaccine development, and antiviral drugs.A vaccine candidate, TAK-003, has shown 73% efficacy in a clinical trial of more than 20,000 children in endemic regions and 90% efficacy for hospitalized patients. Vector
With regards to vector control, a number of novel methods have been used to reduce mosquito numbers with some success including the placement of the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) or copepods in standing water to eat the mosquito larvae. There are also trials with genetically modified male A. aegypti that after release into the wild mate with females, and render their offspring unable to fly. Wolbachia
In 2021 research in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, infected A. aegypti with the wMel strain of Wolbachia pipientis. Infected mosquitos were less susceptible to dengue virus infection. Odds ratio of intervention clusters versus control clusters was .23 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15 to 0.35; P=0.004). Treatment
Apart from the attempts to control the spread of the Aedes mosquito there are ongoing efforts to develop antiviral drugs that would be used to treat attacks of dengue fever and prevent severe complications. Discovery of the structure of the viral proteins may aid the development of effective drugs. There are several plausible targets. The first approach is inhibition of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (coded by NS5), which copies the viral genetic material, with nucleoside analogs. Secondly, it may be possible to develop specific inhibitors of the viral protease (coded by NS3), which splices viral proteins.