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Nature Medicine 9, 820 - 822 (2003)
doi:10.1038/nm0703-820

Dengue immune response: low affinity, high febrility

Raymond M Welsh1 & Alan L Rothman1

  1. The authors are in the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA. e-mail: Raymond.Welsh@umassmed.edu


Immunity built up after dengue virus infection protects only poorly against reinfection by a virus of a different serotype, and second infections are often even more severe. A new study examines why (pages 921–927).


The immune response to viruses treads a fine line between damage to the host and control of the pathogen. In the face of this delicate balance, partial or incomplete immunity to a pathogen can sometimes be worse than no immunity.

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REFERENCE
Flavivirus Infections in Humans
Nature Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences

REVIEWS
No one is naive: the significance of heterologous t-cell immunity
Nature Reviews Immunology Review Article (01 Jun 2002)

RESEARCH
Original antigenic sin and apoptosis in the pathogenesis of dengue hemorrhagic fever
Nature Medicine Article (01 Jul 2003)