Offers 80% efficacy in 12 months; “no previous exposure to virus required”
of Portugal Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT) is administration of a new vaccine that protects against all types of dengue“and requires no prior exposure to the virus.”
“It is indicated for people who have or have not had an infection and (can be taken) from the age of four to 60,” institute director Filomeno Fortes told Lusa, stressing that dengue – spread by infected mosquitoes – is among the top 10 global threats to public healthAccording to World Health Organizationand can be found in more than 125 countries.
Coincidentally, Portugal is said to be at risk of dengue, zika and chikungunya outbreaks this summer, mainly due to rising temperatures.
As Filomeno Fortes explains, previous vaccine it can only be administered to people who have already had contact with the virus. This new – approved in December by INFARMED – can be given to anyone (between 4-60 years); promises 80% efficiency over 12 months and a 90.4% prevention of hospitalization for the virus “to four and a half years since vaccination”.
Fortes says it is administered in two doses, “between one and three months apart.”
The vaccine is not currently included in the national vaccination program, but Fortes believes that could change if there are new outbreaks of dengue, such as those seen in Madeira.
“Suppose here in Portugal, in Madeira, where we have Temples of the Egyptians (the mosquito that carries dengue); where there have been dengue epidemics in the past – if we are facing a situation at risk of a re-emergence of the epidemic, the authorities must decide whether to vaccinate the population en masse and if so, the SNS (National Health Service) should bear the cost,” he said.
Advantages of vaccinating the entire population in specific areas where outbreaks occur
Fortes explains what he perceives as the advantages of mass vaccinations: “The mosquito bites the person and introduces the virus into the blood. Antibodies (if the person is vaccinated) prevent the effect of the mosquito from damaging that organism, but that person, while infected, (…) if bitten, can infect another mosquito, which in turn can transmit the virus to other people. .
In other words, in Fortes’s thinking, unvaccinated people could unknowingly act as conduits for the spread of the virus.
“He also emphasized that a mosquito, once infected, always remains infected, and that the eggs it lays, when they hatch, will hatch with infected vectors,” explains Lusa.
Symptoms may initially be mistaken for the flu
From a public health perspective, Fortes “urges need to increase literacy regarding the diseasereminding both the public and health professionals that symptoms may initially be confused with those of the flu” (that is, if people develop symptoms. According to WHO“most people who get dengue will have no symptoms. But for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rash. Most will also improve in 1-2 weeks.)
Maintaining vector surveillance and control measures is another priority for Fortes – especially where Aedes albopictus mosquito (in mainland Portugal) and Temples of the Egyptians (in Madeira) have already been discovered – as well constant epidemiological surveillance.
The specialist also points to the need for “diagnostic capacity”, recalling that there is a quick detection test which can be used by any doctor to test for infection and this should be freely available in health centers.
If there is a confirmed case of dengue, he adds, certain types of drugs should be avoided “because they can prevent the patient from bleeding.”
At IHMT, Filomeno Fortes explains that the indication is for travelers going to areas where dengue is endemic to be vaccinated at least two weeks before.
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