“Finding May Help Fight Dengue Fever”

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Researchers in the MRC Human Immunology Unit at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at John Radcliffe Hospital in England have found that people who previously had dengue fever get sicker when infected again. Although dengue fever has four versions, the researchers found that the body attacks the first version that a person was infected with, even if a person later acquires a different subtype. No vaccine for the illness currently exists, and creating such a vaccine is made more difficult due to the body responding to the wrong version of the disease. The researchers said their findings, which will be in the July issue of Nature Medicine, could aid in the effort to prevent dengue fever.

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