Infectious diseases expert Dr. Mark Loeb has been given a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to pursue genetic clues that may reveal why some people are barely ill when infected, others have bad flu-like symptoms and still others develop potentially fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever.
The international study will involve subjects from Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, Thailand, India and Vietnam.
Canada only sees 40 or 50 confirmed cases of dengue a year -- in returning travellers -- it's estimated that worldwide about 500,000 dengue infections progress to life-threatening disease, leading to 20,000 to 25,000 deaths.