Dengue mosquito
The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University has begun human clinical testing for a dengue fever vaccine.
The vaccine is being developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Federal News Radio reports.
More than 2.5 billion people currently live in areas where contracting dengue fever is a significant risk. Between 50 and 100 million people every year will eventually contract the disease. Of those infected, approximately 25,000 will die every year. The vast majority of those deaths occur among children.
The symptoms of dengue fever infection include high fever, severe headache and bleeding. No drug treatment or vaccine is currently available for dengue fever.
Dengue fever is spread by mosquitoes. Although not transmittable between humans, people become infected when a mosquito bites an infected person and then bites a non-carrier.
Cases of dengue fever have grown significantly in recent decades. Prior to 1970, only four countries had experience dengue fever epidemics. Although many areas worldwide are impacted, southeast Asia and the western Pacific are the areas with the highest rates of dengue fever infection, according to the World Health Organization.
There is also a fear that dengue fever might spread to the United States. A recent study showed that five percent of people living in Key West had been exposed to the disease.