ABSTRACT
Dengue virus infection poses a serious challenge to the survival of humans worldwide. Dengue is a tropical disease caused by the dengue virus (DENV), a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae, which is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Symptoms of dengue fever usually appear 3–14 days after infection and recovery usually occurs within 2–7 days. In cases of severe presentation, leading to hemorrhagic shock, this acute febrile sickness can be life-threatening. Despite efforts to restrict the spread of the dengue virus, dengue fever cases are still on the rise among the population. Antiviral medicines have a limited role in the treatment of dengue fever; and currently there is no highly recommended vaccine or therapeutic agent against dengue. With the advent of virus strains resistant to antiviral agents, there is a constant need for new therapies to be developed. Medical research is now concentrating on the development of specific and affordable antiviral regimens that include herbal treatment since the majority of currently available antiviral therapies are non-specific for specific viruses. Several active phytoconstituents like quercetin, castanospermine, α-mangostin, schisandrin-A, and hirsutin have been found to be promising to inhibition of all the four DENV serotypes. This chapter focuses on the various phytochemicals and medicinal plants with potential applications for development of therapeutic agent against the dengue virus.
