Dengue Fever Treatment

Dengue Fever Treatment

The Dengue virus is a member of the virus family Flaviviridae and is transmitted to people through the bite of the mosquito’s Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Dengue virus is now believed to be the most common arthropod-borne disease in the world. Dengue is mainly found in the tropics because the mosquitoes require a warm climate.

Dengue Vaccination

Dengue fever cannot be prevented by vaccination or chemoprophylaxis - the only way to reduce the risk of being infected is by avoidance of mosquito bites. The most effective way of preventing dengue fever is to reduce the breeding sites of the Aedes mosquito.

Vaccine Development

There is no commercially available vaccine for the dengue flavivirus. However, one of the many ongoing vaccine development programs is the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative which was set up in 2003 with the aim of accelerating the development and introduction of dengue vaccine(s) that are affordable and accessible to poor children in endemic countries. Thai researchers are testing a dengue fever vaccine on 3,000–5,000 human volunteers after having successfully conducted tests on animals and a small group of human volunteers.