New dengue vaccine may spike infection in lesser affected areas: Study

New dengue vaccine may spike infection in lesser affected areas: Study
The newly licensed dengue vaccine may actually increase the incidence of infections if used in low transmission areas, a team of international researchers has warned.

Importantly, the vaccine cannot be used for children under the age of nine, the researchers said. A blood test that could identify those that have been infected in the past could help make decisions easier, they said. ‘Our results indicate that screening potential vaccine recipients could maximise the benefits and minimise the risk of negative outcomes,’ pointed out Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer, research associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US. For the study, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Imperial College London and the University of Florida re-analysed data from vaccine trials conducted in 10 countries with more than 30,000 participants as well as recently published data on the long-term follow-up of these participants.  Using that data, they developed mathematical models to understand how a vaccine roll-out would affect people in countries where transmission of the disease is high, moderate or low. The vaccine, manufactured by Sanofi-Pasteur, has been licensed in six countries so far, and multiple countries are currently considering how to use this vaccine, said the paper published in the journal Science . (Read: Read more about treatment of dengue fever.)

Source: IANS

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