An infectious and often fatal disease is spreading - dengue fever. It is caused by a virus transmitted by certain species of mosquito. So far there is no effective vaccine against the disease. Researchers at the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg are looking for ways of identifying and combating the pathogen-carrying mosquito species.
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They are collaborating with scientists in Brazil. The country, which is hosting the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, is a high dengue risk area and wants to find ways of keeping infections down.