Dengue Fever News and Research RSS Feed - Dengue Fever News and Research

Dengue (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4), of the genus Flavivirus. Infection with one of these serotypes provides immunity to only that serotype for life, so persons living in a dengue-endemic area can have more than one dengue infection during their lifetime. DF and DHF are primarily diseases of tropical and sub tropical areas, and the four different dengue serotypes are maintained in a cycle that involves humans and the Aedes mosquito. However, Aedes aegypti, a domestic, day-biting mosquito that prefers to feed on humans, is the most common Aedes species. Infections produce a spectrum of clinical illness ranging from a nonspecific viral syndrome to severe and fatal hemorrhagic disease. Important risk factors for DHF include the strain of the infecting virus, as well as the age, and especially the prior dengue infection history of the patient.
Study shows malaria transmission can be controlled by using bacteria

Study shows malaria transmission can be controlled by using bacteria

Mosquitoes are deadly efficient disease transmitters. Research conducted at Michigan State University, however, demonstrates that they also can be equally adept in curing diseases such as malaria. [More]
Collaborative research network to understand spread of infectious diseases

Collaborative research network to understand spread of infectious diseases

The Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study is a collaborative research network funded by the National Institutes of Health that uses computational, statistical and mathematical models to understand the spread of infectious diseases such as influenza, pertussis, West Nile disease, dengue fever and cholera. [More]
Forecasting outbreak of dengue fever with warning system

Forecasting outbreak of dengue fever with warning system

With the help of a warning system which measures the risk of dengue incidence using precipitation and air temperature, it is possible to forecast the outbreak of dengue fever up to 16 weeks in advance. [More]
New data on T cells' protective role suggests need for new approach to dengue vaccine design

New data on T cells' protective role suggests need for new approach to dengue vaccine design

As efforts to create a strong and effective vaccine for the dreaded dengue virus continue to hit snags, a new study from researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology offers surprising evidence that suggests the need for a revamped approach to dengue vaccine design. [More]
Australian, Singapore researchers join hands to combat disease-causing bugs

Australian, Singapore researchers join hands to combat disease-causing bugs

The fight against a number of significant infectious diseases in the Asia-Pacific region has been given a boost through a new research collaboration between the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore. [More]
Research suggests number of dengue cases three times higher than current WHO estimate

Research suggests number of dengue cases three times higher than current WHO estimate

"Around 390 million people are infected each year with dengue fever -- the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease -- more than triple the current estimate by the World Health Organization, experts said on Sunday," Reuters reports. [More]
A*STAR's professor receives Szent-Gy-rgyi prize for groundbreaking cancer pill

A*STAR's professor receives Szent-Gy-rgyi prize for groundbreaking cancer pill

Professor Alex Matter, Chief Executive Officer of A*STAR's Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC), has been awarded the 8th Annual Szent-Gy-rgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research by the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) for his contributions to the development of the first drug specifically targeting a molecular lesion in cancer. [More]
Antibodies neutralize mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus, researchers reveal

Antibodies neutralize mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus, researchers reveal

Researchers have learned the precise structure of the mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus pathogen while it is bound to antibodies, showing how the infection is likely neutralized. [More]
Study: Pradaxa drug may increase risk and severity of viral infections

Study: Pradaxa drug may increase risk and severity of viral infections

A study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina indicates that a newly approved blood thinner that blocks a key component of the human blood clotting system may increase the risk and severity of certain viral infections, including flu and myocarditis, a viral infection of the heart and a significant cause of sudden death in children and young adults. [More]

Scientists develop novel method to accurately predict dengue fever outbreaks

A team of scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has developed a novel method to accurately predict dengue fever outbreaks several weeks before they occur. [More]
Fralin Life Science Institute researchers use TALENS to alter mosquito genome

Fralin Life Science Institute researchers use TALENS to alter mosquito genome

Virginia Tech researchers successfully used a gene disruption technique to change the eye color of a mosquito - a critical step toward new genetic strategies aimed at disrupting the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever. [More]
Sanford-Burnham enters into partnership to test furin for treatment of dengue fever

Sanford-Burnham enters into partnership to test furin for treatment of dengue fever

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and 60- Pharmaceuticals, LLC, have entered into a partnership to test furin, a human proteinase, as a drug target for the treatment of dengue fever, one of the most common infectious diseases in the tropics and subtropics. [More]

Significant link between defective viruses and increased rate of transmission of major disease

Defective viruses, thought for decades to be essentially garbage unrelated to the transmission of normal viruses, now appear able to play an important role in the spread of disease, new research by UCLA life scientists indicates. [More]
NanoViricides retires Series C Convertible Preferred Stock previously purchased by Seaside

NanoViricides retires Series C Convertible Preferred Stock previously purchased by Seaside

NanoViricides, Inc., announced today that it has retired the remainder of the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock previously purchased by Seaside 88, LP, with a cash payment. [More]

Inviragen to initiate second stage of DENVax Phase 2 study in dengue

Inviragen, Inc. today announced the initiation of the second stage of an ongoing Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of DENVax, the Company's investigational dengue vaccine. [More]

Dengue fever mosquitoes tap into domestic networks of humans, along with their bloodstreams

The mosquitoes that spread dengue fever tap into the domestic networks of humans, along with their bloodstreams, finds a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). [More]

Brazilian city declares health emergency due to dengue fever outbreak

"Municipal authorities in Campo Grande, the capital of the southwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, on Monday declared a health emergency due to a serious outbreak of dengue fever," Fox News Latino reports. [More]
NIH's candidate vaccine safe in treating dengue

NIH's candidate vaccine safe in treating dengue

A candidate dengue vaccine developed by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been found to be safe and to stimulate a strong immune response in most vaccine recipients, according to results from an early-stage clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. The trial results were published online on January 17 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. [More]
NanoViricides to advance influenza drug candidate with completed $5M funding

NanoViricides to advance influenza drug candidate with completed $5M funding

NanoViricides, Inc., announced today that it has received the final tranche of $2.5M from Seaside 88, LP, thereby completing the total of a $5M financing. This raise, and the receipt of the initial $2.5M tranche, was previously announced on June 29, 2012. [More]
Reviewing G-FINDER report findings

Reviewing G-FINDER report findings

Nick Chapman, a policy analyst at Policy Cures, writes in a guest post on the Global Health Technologies Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog about "the results of the latest G-FINDER survey on global funding of [research and development (R&D)] for neglected diseases." [More]