Dengue virus is spread through the bites of infected Aedes mosquitoes and causes dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, and dengue shock syndrome. It infects up to 400 million people annually, with 22,000 deaths from severe dengue. The virus has a positive-sense RNA genome that encodes structural and nonstructural proteins, including the essential NS2B-NS3 protease which contains a catalytic triad and is highly conserved among the four dengue serotypes.