Dengue (2005): an estimated 2.5 billion people live in areas at risk for epidemic transmission.

Each year, tens of millions of cases of DF occur and, depending on the year, up to hundreds of thousands of cases of DHF. The case-fatality rate of DHF in most countries is about 5%, but this can be reduced to less than 1% with proper treatment. Most fatal cases are among children and young adults.

Morbidity of DHF reaches about a million people a year in many developing countries of Asia and the Americas. Out of this number of cases, an estimated 500 000 patients require hospitalization. Of those been hospitalized, about 60 per cent are children (294 000) whereas adults represent less than 40 per cent (186 000). About 2.5 % (7000) of the affected children die; however the overall mortality rate in both groups can reach more than 20% of those affected (234 000) in those places where there is no proper treatment or enoung health care facilities.

Morbidity and mortality of dengue hemorrhagic fever in developing countries of Asia and the Americas HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS ( 500 000) MORTALITY CHILDREN ADULTS CHILDREN ADULTS 294 000 (~ 60 %) 186 000 (< 40%) 7000 (~ 2.5%) (NOT AVAILABLE) 234 000 (> 20 %)

The pie chart / graph represents the infection rates during epidemics of dengue. It can be observed that people who have not been previously exposed to a dengue serotype are more at risk since 63% suffer from DF, whereas only 37% of those who have previously had a dengue infection are affected again. It can be concluded that having been exposed to a previous infection somehow protects the person from a recurrence. (un prrafo coherente que exprese los datos en la grfica, similar al que se brinda como posible, es aceptable)