Difficulties and advancements in developing drugs for the treatment of dengue fever

Dengue fever is caused by infections with dengue virus, the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral pathogen in humans. There are no drugs available to treat dengue virus infection. Here, we discuss the strategies and challenges to develop dengue drugs. Treating the disease pathology is hindered by a lack of understanding of the disease progression and the causes of disease symptoms such as vascular leakage. Most drug-discovery efforts have concentrated on viral targets, which have their own particular challenges. Despite various challenges, great progresses have been made towards the development of dengue therapy. Ultimately, the only way to know whether a direct-acting antiviral will be a viable approach for treating dengue patients is to test safe compounds with demonstrated antiviral activity in human trials.