dengue

noun

den·gue | \ ˈdeŋ-gē

, -ˌgā\

Definition of dengue

: an acute infectious disease caused by a flavivirus (species Dengue virus of the genus Flavivirus), transmitted by aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by headache, severe joint pain, and a rash

— called also breakbone fever, dengue fever

Examples of dengue in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One hypothesis is that if a mother has already had dengue, which is related to Zika, Zika may be more likely to cause microcephaly in her baby. — Washington Post, "AP Explains: Zika and its link to microcephaly," 7 June 2018 Cold winters have served as a key check on mosquito populations that carry viruses like dengue and Zika. — Umair Irfan, Vox, "Winters are warming faster than summers. These US cities could lose weeks of freezing days by 2050.," 21 Dec. 2018 Rising temperatures mean disease-carrying mosquitoes will range further north, and more people could be exposed to Zika, dengue, and West Nile. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Climate Change Could Cost The United States Economy Hundreds of Billions Annually," 26 Nov. 2018 The trials have been used to test vaccines or treatments for dengue, malaria, influenza and norovirus, among other diseases. — Emily Baumgaertner, New York Times, "Ethicists Call for More Scrutiny of ‘Human-Challenge’ Trials," 20 Apr. 2018 In fact, severe dengue infections more commonly occur when people experience a second dengue infection. — Helen Branswell, STAT, "Sanofi’s new dengue challenge: find a diagnostic that will make its vaccine safe to use," 13 June 2018 Mosquitoes, long spreaders of malaria and yellow fever, have more recently spread dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses, and caused epidemic outbreaks, mainly in U.S. territories. — Joyce Sakamoto, Washington Post, "Ticks and mosquitoes are ready to deliver disease in a bite, but you can stop them," 18 June 2018 Mosquitoes can carry diseases like the Zika virus or dengue, but the sprays used to kill them can have a negative effect on things like crops and bees. — Austen Erblat, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Royal Palm Beach, Wellington to spray for mosquitoes ahead of Fourth of July," 22 June 2018 In tropical regions, people instead contend with malaria, yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. — Heath Macmillan, Smithsonian, "Why Some Summers Are So Appealing For Mosquitoes," 22 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dengue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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The first known use of dengue was in 1828

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dengue

noun

den·gue | \ ˈdeŋ-gē

, -ˌgā

Medical Definition of dengue

: an acute infectious disease that is characterized by headache, severe joint pain, and a rash and that is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the genus Flavivirus (species Dengue virus) transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes

— called also breakbone fever, dandy fever, dengue fever