Researchers from Maryland and South Carolina have developed a novel four-component vaccine that protects monkeys against all four strains of dengue virus and may potentially offer protection to the millions of humans at risk worldwide. They report their findings in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Virology.

Dengue Fever has claimed 54 lives in Brazil since January according to health officials. Hospitals have reported a total of 114 deaths but 60 are still being investigated. Dengue Fever comes from mosquitoes.

A pair of researchers has answered a puzzle about why efforts to lower the transmission of dengue virus in Thailand have not resulted in decreases in the severe, life-threatening, form of the infection. In fact, it seems to have had just the opposite effect.

Researchers at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and the Genome Institute of Singapore have identified new host genes associated with dengue virus infection, which may open new avenues to developing a drug to treat the disease.