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In Bangkok, a boy was bit by a mosquito that carried the dengue fever. As a result, the boy suffered from, dengue shock syndrome, which causes internal bleeding and organ failure. The US ARMY is in development of a vaccine that may be available in a few years.

Dengue, a mosquito-borne illness once known as break-bone fever for its intense joint and muscle pain and crushing headaches, has a relatively low death rate —— about 2.5 percent of hospitalized patients, the World Health Organization reports

Dengue is a tropical illness that is rare in the US and Europe, but it is second to Malaria for people traveling to these 3rd world countries. The US Army is concerned because US Troops have contracted this illness since the 1990s on their missions.

The research facility, which employs several hundred people, is housed in an unremarkable 1960s building alongside a greasy alley where food vendors hawk fried grasshoppers and freshly mashed papaya salad.

Besides the US Army Research and Development for the vaccine- this is a world wide effort to find the cure. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and drug companies like GlaxoSmithKline, which is working with the Army and so are the French.

There are ways to minimize the spread of the disease-take away the breeding areas for the mosquitoes-water filled cans and puddles.

With proper treatment you can be spared the death that the 3- year old boy died of.

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