Dengue Hemorrhagic Shock Protein Identified

Excerpt:

"If you’ve made it to the end of the summer with no mosquito bites, consider yourself lucky. There are many places in the world where these vexatious insects carry debilitating diseases that can not only adversely affect individuals, but also severely cripple local economies—making it even more difficult to care for the stricken. Affecting up to 400 million people per year, dengue virus (DENV) is one such infectious commuter within these mosquitos, for which there is currently no vaccine or targeted therapies. However, efforts have been made over the past several years to introduce genetically modified mosquitos, in an attempt to control the disease-carrying mosquito population.  

Now, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have identified what they believe is the key protein responsible for the fluid loss and subsequent shock that are the hallmarks of severe—and potentially fatal—DENV infections. Known as nonstructural protein 1 (NS1), the scientists observed that it is the only one of the 10 viral proteins secreted by DENV infected cells to circulate freely throughout the bloodstream."