Introduccion: el dengue es una enfermedad emergente y reemergente, de interes en salud publica por su impacto en morbimortalidad. Objetivo: analizar temas relacionados a la epidemiologia, politicas en salud publica para dengue y resistencia a insecticidas. Metodologia: se realizo una busqueda sistematica de articulos y documentos relacionados en las bases de datos Pubmed, Science direct, Ovid, Scielo, Leyes.info. La busqueda de articulos se limito desde 1971 hasta 2013, en los idiomas espanol e ingles. Se realizo busqueda de las estadisticas de casos de dengue de los sistemas de vigilancia epidemiologica nacional, regional y mundial, a partir de la informacion publicada por la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud y el Instituto Nacional de Salud. Resultados: se obtuvieron 195 articulos cientificos, de los cuales 73 eran completos y de los temas de interes para la revision. Conclusion: en las ultimas decadas la incidencia por dengue a nivel mundial ha aumentado dramaticamente. En America la presion de seleccion ejercida con insecticidas quimicos sobre las poblaciones del vector por mas de tres decadas ha generado la aparicion de poblaciones resistentes a moleculas de tipo organoclorado, organofosforado, piretroides y carbamatos. A pesar de existir una politica publica para la prevencion y control del dengue en Colombia que se articula con una politica publica continental; esta se ve obstaculizada por la influencia de factores economicos, politicos, sociales y administrativos que impiden lograr el control de la enfermedad en el pais. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2013;4(2): 302-317 PALABRAS CLAVES Dengue; Resistencia a insecticidas; Politicas publicas; Enfermedades infecciosas; Enfermedades febriles. SUMMARY Introduction: dengue is an emerging and re-emerging disease of interest in public health due to its great impact in morbimorbidity. Objective: to analyze topics related to epidemiology, politics in public health for dengue and resistance to insecticides. Methods: a systematic search of articles and related-documents was carried out in the following databases: Pubmed, Science direct, Ovid, Scielo and Leyes.info. The search Munof articles was limited since 1971 until 2013 in the languages Spanish and English. A search of the statistics of cases of dengue was done in the national, regional and global epidemiological surveillance systems since the publicated data by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Instituto Nacional de Salud. Results: 195 scientific publications were obtained, 73 of them were complete articles and contained data of interest for the review. Conclusions: in the last decades, the global incidence of dengue has been increasing dramatically. In America, the selection pressure applied with chemical insecticides on the populations of the vector during more than three decades has generated the apparition of resistant populations to molecules of type organoclorade, organophosphorated, pyrethroid and carbamates. In spite of the existence of a public policy for the prevention and control of dengue in Colombia, that is articulated with a continental public policy, this is obstructed by the influence of economic, political, social and administrative factors that impede to achieve the control of the disease in this country. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2013;4(2):302-317 KEY WORDS Dengue; Resistance to insecticides; Public policies; Infectious diseases; Febrile diseases.