Latest Dengue fever Stories
LITITZ, Pa., April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In conjunction with World Malaria Day and the efforts of volunteers working to provide effective malaria control in Africa, Mosquito Magnet® announces a donation initiative partnering with their Facebook community. The initiative's goal is to donate a total of 200 treated mosquito nets - a $2,000 value - to the United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign. Facebook users can take part by going to...
LONDON, April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxitec, a British company with a new approach to combating the dengue mosquito, Aedes aegypti, has today launched a new educational film, 'Controlling the Dengue Mosquito - the Oxitec Solution'. The film, which uses clay animation, or 'claymation', is intended to improve the clarity, accessibility and transparency of Oxitec's work and research. Dr Paul Reiter, Professor of Medical Entomology at the Pasteur Institute, who features...
Changes promote blood-feeding behavior and virus transmission Mosquitoes infected with dengue virus experience an array of changes in the activity of genes and associated functions of their salivary glands, and these changes may lead to increased virus transmission, according to a recent study led by George Dimopoulos, Ph.D., of the Malaria Research Institute and Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Some of these changes involve the mosquito's immune system and...
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have, for the first time, shown that infection with dengue virus turns on mosquito genes that makes them hungrier and better feeders, and therefore possibly more likely to spread the disease to humans. Specifically, they found that dengue virus infection of the mosquito's salivary gland triggered a response that involved genes of the insect's immune system, feeding behavior and the mosquito's ability to sense odors. The...
Researchers have identified enzymes and biochemical compounds called lipids that are targeted and modified by the dengue virus during infection, suggesting a potential new approach to control the aggressive mosquito-borne pathogen. Their results appear March 22nd in the Open Access Journal PLoS Pathogens. Findings also suggest that medications used to treat high cholesterol and other lipid-related conditions might also inhibit dengue's replication and could represent a potential new...
Protein biomarkers allow early detection and could greatly reduce mortality Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have developed the first accurate predictive model to differentiate between dengue fever (DF) and its more severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). The breakthrough, which could vastly reduce the disease's mortality rate, was reported in related papers in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and Clinical and Translational Science. These...
OXFORD, England, February 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxitec Ltd, a British company pioneering a new approach to combating dengue fever, announced today that it has secured GBP8 million of new investment. The investment will finance further trials of the Oxitec Control Programme, designed to reduce populations of the dengue mosquito in communities hardest hit by the disease. The Oxitec solution harnesses advanced genetics to create 'sterile' male insects. The company has...
OXFORD, England, February 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxitec Ltd, a company pioneering a new approach to combating dengue fever, announced today that it has appointed Dr Christopher Richards as Non-Executive Chairman, with effect from 1st January 2012. Oxitec use advanced genetics to create 'sterile' male insects of the target species. The company has demonstrated success in trials in a number of countries and is developing a range of products both in public health and...
Max Planck scientists analysing the release of genetically modified insects into the environment have found that the available scientific information can be misleading While genetically modified plants have already been introduced into the wild on a large scale in some parts of the world, the release of genetically modified animals is still at a relatively early stage. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany has now published a study...
The current issue of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases presents a new collection of articles on the use of genetically modified (GM) insects for controlling some of the most widespread infectious diseases. Articles from across the PLoS journals describe the technological advances these tools represent, the regulatory framework, and the societal dialogue that is necessary for their wide-scale application for disease control. Diseases transmitted by insects form a huge burden on human and...
Latest Dengue fever Reference Libraries
West Nile virus (WNV) is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. It is part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses and is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It primarily infects birds but can infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, and other mammals. Humans are generally infected through the bites of mosquitoes and about 90% of West Nile Virus infections are without symptoms. The virion is 45-60 nm and covered with a relatively smooth protein surface. It is...
Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), caused by the dengue virus, is among the spectrum of acute febrile tropical disease and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Occurring mainly in the tropics it can be life threatening and is caused by four closely related virus stereotypes of the genus Flavivirus. It was identified and named in 1779. It has a nickname of "breakbone fever" due to it causing sever generalized bodyache. It tends to be more prevalent in the urban districts of its range...
Flavivirus is a genus of the family Flaviviridae. This genus includes the West Nile Virus, Dengue Virus, Tick-borne Encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus, and quite a few others. Flaviviruses get their name from the yellow fever virus. Flavus means yellow in Latin. Yellow fever was named because if caused yellow jaundice in victims. Mosquitoes and ticks transmit these viruses by biting people. Human infections are usually incidental since humans are unable to replicate the virus. Yellow...
Aedes albopictus (Family Culicidae), the Asian Tiger Mosquito or Forest Day Mosquito, is characterized by its black and white striped legs and small, black and white body. It was native to south-east Asia, and occupied a habitat that spread from Madagascar eastward to New Guinea, and north to the latitude of Korea. The typical member of the Aedes albopictus has a length of about 5 mm. As with other members of the mosquito family, the female is outfitted with an elongated proboscis that she...
