Chennai: A vaccine to prevent dengue is the need of the hour since the dreaded disease has consumed 22 people and has infected nearly 21,000 people across the country in the last seven months since the beginning of 2017.
Though dengue vaccines have been approved in other countries, they remain under review in India despite increasing number of fresh cases every year.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) says a study for dengue virus will be conducted in various zones in the country with around 80,000 samples, before any vaccine can be introduced. And dengue vaccines that have been made in India have been waiting for regulatory clearances due to delay in clinical trial.
World Health Organisation had recommended dengue vaccine named Dengvaxia manufactured by Sanofi Pasteurs two years ago and recommended that countries should consider introduction of vaccine where epidemiological data indicate a high burden of disease.
As per ICMR officials, WHO guidelines have not been met in India that delays the development of the vaccine. Though many Indian vaccine companies are ready to invest in the development of dengue vaccine, vaccine development could not advance as dengue infection varies according to dynamic climatic conditions at different places.
“ICMR is conducting a dengue census across the country to collect more data from different zonal population to provide more data on baseline seroprevalence of the vaccine. Based on the survey report, we can decide on the necessity of the dengue vaccine.
“An expert committee will be looking into the report to decide on various alternatives available as the dengue vaccine and can finalise on which vaccine will be feasible for the country,” Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told Deccan Chronicle.
She added that within six months more data will be available for ICMR to review the report on dengue surveillance. After the report review, development of dengue vaccine can proceed.
WHO expected the Dengvaxia vaccine to be an integrated part of the Global Dengue Prevention and Control Strategy (2012-2020), but the long pending clinical trial did not waive and was rejected by Indian health ministry.
The available dengue vaccines are waiting for the clinical dengue surveillance report to be put into use. The running clinical trials in India on dengue vaccines would delay its introduction further and the numbers of dengue cases would surge.
Health dept steps up screening in south
With a rise in the dengue cases in the city, public health department is taking initiatives such as door-to-door testing of all fevers, checking stagnation, distribution of oral medication and mass awareness campaigns.
As Tamil Nadu reported 4,407 cases until July 9 this year, the number of cases has outnumbered the total number of 2,531 cases reported last year. Taking the situations under consideration, the state health department has started field inspection and source reduction on a large scale at district and village level, especially in southern districts.
Kerala records the highest number of 10,337 cases this year, which increases the risk of a surge in dengue cases in southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Public health director K. Kolandaisamy said that state is coordinating with medical officers in Kerala to share information in the case management.
“We are informing medical officers if new cases need to be reported to the medical officers in Kerala. The resources and control measures are being shared across borders to prevent any sort of outbreak. Medical field officers along with anganwadi workers, district medical officers and others are going door-to-door to create awareness among people on dengue and its control. The field staff is being trained in dengue case management,” he said.
He added that the corporation health department is checking on the stagnation of water to avoid breeding of mosquitoes. Zonal camps, awareness campaigns in schools are being taken.
As per the health department officials, “Suspected cases of dengue are being tracked regularly. The treatment provided to the patients is being monitored.
Source reduction and vector identification continue in the identified areas
of Krishnagiri, Salem, Theni, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Virudhunagar and Erode.”
