Understanding Dengue Fever: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

It is an illness one can get from the bite of a mosquito carrying one of four types of dengue virus (DENV). The virus is most commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions such as, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands. Dengue is not contagious and does not spread from person to person except when passed from a pregnant person to their child. The symptoms are usually mild with the first infection, but if one gets another infection with a different version of DENV, the risk of severe complications goes up.