Sygdommen har nået pandemiske højder med 300-400 millioner smittede om året. WHO anslår, at op mod 2,5 milliarder mennesker lever med risiko for at blive smittet med sygdommen, der har en dødserate på 1-5 procent.

 

Nu har forskere fra University of Vermonts Vaccine Testing Center angiveligt udviklet en effektiv vaccine, som er så lovende, at den bliver hastet igennem til det man kalder "fase 3" – kliniske forsøg i stor skala.

 

Grupper af frivillige blev enten vaccineret eller fik indsprøjtet placebo (snydemedicin) og blev så seks måneder senere udsat for en svækket udgave af dengue-feber, der udvikler infektion, men som giver minimale symptomer, noterer DR online.

 

Resultaterne viste, at de vaccinerede blev beskyttet imod virusen, mens ingen af de frivillige, som kun havde fået placebo, blev beskyttet mod infektion.

 

The World Health Organization has made the development and introduction of dengue vaccines a high priority. Approximately 40 percent of the world’s population are at risk of contracting dengue, a viral infection spread by mosquitos in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Dengue fever is best known for producing a high fever, rash (udslæt) and joint pain (ledsmerter), but may also cause very serious disease, including hemorrhage and shock, as well as death.

Development of vaccines for dengue has been complicated, since disease can be caused by any of four dengue virus serotypes and the vaccine must be tetravalent, providing equal protection against all four serotypes.

The dengue vaccine was designed by Stephen Whitehead, Ph.D., a senior scientist and virologist at the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ) 

Clinical research was performed at both UVM and Johns Hopkins, where testing was led by Associate Professor Anna Durbin, M.D., corresponding author on the paper. Study volunteers were given vaccine or placebo and were tested for protection against a weakened strain of dengue that causes infection, but no or minimal symptoms.

Results demonstrated that all vaccinees were protected from the “challenge” virus, but none of the volunteers receiving placebo vaccines were protected. The vaccine was well-tolerated in all volunteers.

“This work used a robust method which predicts a high likelihood of success for this critically important dengue vaccine,” says UVM Professor of Medicine and Vaccine Testing Center Director Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., who is first author on the paper. 

“The NIH dengue vaccine will now proceed to the ultimate test of effectiveness: large field-based trials in dengue-endemic countries,” says Kristen Pierce, M.D., associate professor of medicine and UVM clinical investigator.

“Beginning later this month, our team will be testing this vaccine in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a large phase III efficacy trial has already begun in Brazil.”