Dengue viral infection

(A) A person is infected with the dengue virus when an infected mosquito bites the person’s skin. (B) The dengue virus infects the Langerhans cells, a type of dendritic cell in the skin. (C) The infected Langerhans cells produce interferons to help limit the continuous spread of the infection. Other infected Langerhans cells travel to the lymph nodes carrying viruses, which infect more cells. The spread of the dengue virus results in viremia, which is a high level of the virus in the bloodstream. To fight the infection, the immune system produces antibodies to neutralize the dengue viral particles, and the complement system is activated to help the antibodies and white blood cells remove the virus. The immune response also includes cytotoxic T cells (lymphocytes), which recognize and kill infected cells.