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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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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"