Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever at 60 Years: Early Evolution of Concepts of Causation and Treatment

Abstract

SUMMARY During the decade of the 1960s, the epidemiology of a new dengue disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), was described by collaborative research performed by Thai scientists from many institutions and by workers at the U.S. Army's SEATO Medical Research Laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand. Careful clinical and physiological studies provided the initial description of DSS. DSS cases were caused by each of the four dengue viruses (DENV) and not chikungunya (CHIK) virus or DENV 5 and 6, were associated with a secondary-type dengue antibody response in children over the age of 1 year, were associated with a primary antibody response in infants less than 1 year old whose mothers had neutralizing antibodies to all four DENV, were associated more frequently with secondary DENV 2 infections than those due to DENV 1 and 3, and were more common in females than males over the age of 3 years. Robust laboratory methods for growth and recovery of DENV in tissue cultures were introduced. In addition, life-saving principles of fluid and plasma protein resuscitation of hypovolemia were described. Most epidemiological observations made during the decade of the 1960s have been confirmed in the succeeding 45 years. Much contemporary research on pathogenesis fails to address the two distinct immunological antecedents of DHF/DSS.