Medical research

Study maps potential route to effective dengue vaccines

(Medical Xpress)—The mosquito-borne dengue virus infects up to 390 million people a year. Symptoms of dengue fever include a measles-like rash, fever, body aches and joint pain. In a small subset of cases, the disease develops ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Human antibody for dengue virus isolated

(Phys.org) -- A group of scientists in Singapore and the UK have isolated a human antibody capable of effectively neutralizing the mosquito-borne dengue virus. Dengue fever is currently incurable and infects an estimated ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Hidden 'super spreaders' spur dengue fever transmission, finds study

For mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, the abundance of the insects in places where people gather has long served as the main barometer for infection risk. A new study, however, suggests that the number of "hidden" ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Some viruses make you smell tastier to mosquitoes

Zika and dengue fever viruses alter the scent of mice and humans they infect, researchers report in the 30 June issue of Cell. The altered scent attracts mosquitoes, which bite the host, drink their infected blood and then ...

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Dengue fever

Dengue fever (pronounced UK: /ˈdɛŋɡeɪ/, US: /ˈdɛŋɡiː/) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are acute febrile diseases, found in the tropics, and caused by four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. It is also known as breakbone fever. The geographical spread includes northern Australia, northern Argentina, and the entire Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Philippines, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mexico, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Barbados, Trinidad and Samoa. Unlike malaria, dengue is just as prevalent in the urban districts of its range as in rural areas. Each serotype is sufficiently different that there is no cross-protection and epidemics caused by multiple serotypes (hyperendemicity) can occur. Dengue is transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti or more rarely the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which feed during the day.

The WHO says some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of the world's population, are now at risk from dengue and estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide every year. The disease is now epidemic in more than 100 countries.

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