Mexico Government approves world’s 1st Dengue fever vaccine named Dengvaxia

Mexico Government has approved world’s first-ever Dengue fever vaccine branded as Dengvaxia for the public use.
Key facts

• Dengvaxia has been manufactured by French pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur.
• It has been designed to protect people in the 9-45 age groups from all four subtypes of the virus.
• The vaccine was produced as the result of an extensive clinical development programme of the French company than ran for almost two decades.
• Sanofi Pasteur has requested authorisation to roll out the vaccine in 20 countries.

Comment
Dengvaxia is considered as a historic milestone for the global public health community and, most importantly for half the world’s population that lives at risk of dengue. Prior to introduction of this vaccine, there was no vaccine to prevent dengue fever.
About Dengue Fever

• Dengue fever is a vector-borne disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitos’ species.
• It is prevalent throughout the tropics and subtropics. Thus, it is also known as mosquito-borne tropical disease
• Symptoms: Severe joint and muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, exhaustion and rash.
• Dengue triad i.e. presence of fever, rash, and headache is the common characteristic of dengue fever.
• Prevention: It requires control or eradication of the mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes dengue. There is no known cure and children are at particular risk.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has mentioned that dengue has become the fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease as it infects as many as 400 million people and kills 22,000 people every year.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2015