Dengue fever will soon be under control thanks to a fully effective vaccine to protect humans from this infectious disease, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Science Translational Medicine.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University (USA) conducted a clinical trial with 41 participants, 21 of whom received a single dose of this vaccine and the others a placebo.
The results are encouraging: none of the 21 vaccinated participants carried any trace of the virus in their blood or developed symptoms. On the other hand, all those treated with a placebo were infected and 80% had symptoms.
“Based on what we know about this new vaccine, we are confident that it will work,” said Dr. Anna Durbin, assistant professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), who led this study.
As a result of these findings, researchers will set up a Phase 3 clinical trial in late March in Bangladesh to test the efficacy of the vaccine on a large scale. Another such trial is already underway in Brazil.
A re-emerging disease
Today, there is no way to protect yourself effectively against this infectious disease transmitted by the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus. Dengue fever is manifested by high fever, headache, nausea, joint and muscle pain and a rash. Severe dengue, which carries a risk of death, is particularly dangerous for children and adolescents. Dengue is a threat to more than 2.5 billion people, and represents a public health issue in more than 100 countries in America and Asia. Around 500,000 people, the majority of them children, are at risk from severe dengue fever.
A future vaccine against the Zika virus
“The methods used in this study to develop this dengue vaccine could be used to develop an experimental vaccine against dengue. Zika in the coming months,” concluded Prof. Durbin.
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