Indian scientists reported a breakthrough a few weeks ago and the vaccine is now being tested on monkeys.
An Indian laboratory's promising discovery of dengue vaccine molecules has raised hopes for a new vaccine against the dreaded virus.
Indian scientists reported a breakthrough a few weeks ago and the vaccine is now being tested on monkeys. The scientists say it will take time to get to the human trials stage and if everything works to plan, a made-in-India dengue vaccine could be available in five years from now.
"Yes, we definitely have a working candidate vaccine for dengue with us. For me, developing a dengue vaccine for India is like putting a man on the moon, it is of that importance," said Dr Navin Khanna, dengue researcher at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi.
The Centre plans a larger vaccine trial on monkeys in America; the full-fledged human trial after that could cost more than Rs 100 crore.
National capital Delhi is in the grip of its worst Dengue outbreak in five years.
Work on the Indian dengue vaccine started five years ago with an investment of eight crore. The development was largely kept secret and the team procured an international patent only last month.
"The Indian vaccine initiative is at a very nascent stage, we are trying to develop one in the lab," Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
National capital Delhi is in the grip of its worst Dengue outbreak in five years; 11 people have died and more than 1,800 cases have been reported. There are also reports of dengue in other states.
Developing a vaccine against Dengue has not proved easy as there are four different strains of the virus. In Delhi dengue strain 2 and 4 have been reported in the current outbreak and doctors say fortunately, no new strain of the virus has struck this time.
Dengue spreads through infected Aedes or the tiger mosquitoes biting humans. Most patients recover and on a minuscule number die from dengue.
There are many viral diseases against which vaccines exist the best known is the polio virus which has now been eliminated from India.