Sep
25
2014
The commercial roll-out of the world’s first dengue vaccine is in sight, but tropical disease experts are already questioning the breakthrough vaccine’s drawbacks. Often known as “breakbone fever”, with symptoms of excruciating joint pain, high fevers, and, in severe cases, internal bleeding – dengue is carried by mosquitos.
Apr
25
2014
An often fatal respiratory virus has made the leap from the Middle East to south-east Asia, spurring governments across the region to swing into action to contain the disease. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, has similar characteristics to the SARS virus that emerged in China a decade ago, killing 750 people and bringing …read more
Apr
11
2014
The deadliest creature in the world can be squashed with a casual slap. Yet the tiny mosquito still manages to kill hundreds of thousands of people a year with the diseases it carries: malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis and yellow fever. Now it seems science is getting closer to controlling some of the mosquito’s cargo of …read more