# 5103
Although there are no approved vaccines to protect against Dengue fever there are a number of vaccine candidates being developed and tested around the world.
Last August I wrote about a Phase I trial being conducted by the NIH.
The need is great, as the global burden of Dengue is immense, with 2.5 billion people – two fifths of the world's population – at risk of infection.
The World Health Organization estimates there may be as many as 50 million dengue infections each year.
Dengue’s spread has increased dramatically over the past 50 years, and since the 1950s a rare, but far more serious form of the disease – DHF or (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever) – has emerged.
Malaysia, which views dengue as an increasingly serious health threat, has been working on several cutting edge solutions.
They are planning the release of Genetically Modified (GM) mosquitoes (see The Latest Buzz On GM Mosquitoes), and human trials of Sanofi Pasteur’s experimental dengue vaccine are currently underway.
First a report on the Malaysian trials, which involve about 300 test subjects, then I’ll return with more.
This from ANN (Asian News Network).
Dengue vaccine trials under way in 5 Malaysian states
ANN - Wednesday, December 1
The race to produce a safe and effective dengue vaccine involves a number of different companies and entities, including Sanofi, the NIAID vaccine trials, GlaxoSmithKline , Hawaii Biotech Inc (HBI), and an entry created by Inviragen and the CDC.
One of the major obstacles in developing a vaccine is that there are four strains of dengue; DEN1 – DEN4. Single strain live attenuated Dengue vaccines have been developed and tested, and seem effective.
They aren’t considered a good solution, however, because having antibodies to one strain of dengue can make an individual more likely to develop the more dangerous hemorrhagic form of dengue when exposed to a different strain.
What is needed is a combination vaccine; one that protects against all four strains. It turns out that this is more complicated than simply mixing four single-strain vaccines together into a single shot.
Progress is being made, however. There are a number of promising trials underway.
The bad news is, it may still be several years before any of these vaccines becomes available to the public.
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