DENGUE - SCI & TECH
News:
Dengue vaccine: India moves closer to getting its first indigenous vaccine
What's in the news?
● Moving
closer to being able to develop the
country’s first vaccine against dengue, drug-makers Serum Institute of
India and Panacea Biotec have applied to the Indian Council of Medical
Research’s (ICMR) call for ‘Expression of Interest’ for collaborative Phase-III
clinical trials for indigenous manufacturers.
Key takeaways:
● Phase-III clinical trial is
being done for evaluation of efficacy, along with safety and immunogenicity of
tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate developed by Indian manufacturers.
Dengue:
● Dengue
is a mosquito-borne tropical disease
caused by the dengue virus (Genus Flavivirus), transmitted by several species
of female mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally Aedes aegypti.
● There
are 4 distinct, but closely related,
serotypes (separate groups within a species of microorganisms that all
share a similar characteristic) of the virus that cause dengue (DEN-1, DEN-2,
DEN-3 and DEN-4).
● Dengue
is the world’s fastest-growing vector
borne disease.
● Evidence
shows over the past 50 years, there was a 30-50-fold increase in dengue cases
in tropical and subtropical countries, like India.
Risk among populations:
● According
to ICMR, dengue virus disease causes significant morbidity and mortality across
the globe.
● In
India, 2 to 2.5 lakh cases are reported annually.
● The
global incidence of dengue has grown dramatically with about half of the
world’s population now at risk.
● Although
an estimated 100-400 million infections occur each year, over 80% are generally
mild and asymptomatic.
Global threat:
● The
World Health Organization (WHO) has identified dengue to be one among the top ten global health threats
in 2019.
Vulnerability of Dengue:
● The
virus is evolving too, and how the human body responds to it is becoming
complex.
● The
disease is becoming dangerous, not only due to human vulnerability but also
climate change and urbanization.
● Climatic factors
— including temperature, humidity and rainfall — impact the life cycle and
transmission of vector-borne viruses (such as dengue and malaria), such that
they are able to grow faster, survive for longer periods of time in the host
population and spread to geographies without histories of reported infection.
Symptoms:
● Sudden
high fever, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, severe bone, joint, and
muscle pain, etc.
Treatment:
● As
of now, there is no specific treatment
for dengue/severe dengue.