Vaccine for Dengue Fever Discovered

Aedes Aegypti

The scientists finally succeeded in creating the first dengue fever vaccine in the world. The vaccine made by  a giant pharmacy Sanofi was claimed to be able to protect the body against three types of viruses that cause dengue fever.

The efficacy of this vaccine for this moment is still awaiting the results of the clinic trials in Thailand. If it is positive, then this can be a milestone in developing the dengue vaccine that has been awaited for 70 years.

This vaccine is predicted to be widely circulated in 2014.


Dengue fever is a disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti. This disease has the symptoms of pain in the joints of bones and has killed three million people around the world. Dengue fever itself is caused by four types of virus, and when infected by one of the virus types the body does not give immunity anymore to the three other types of the virus. Children are most susceptible to death from this disease.

Although Sanofi vaccine was claimed to provide protection to the four types of virus, but a study conducted in Thailand showed protection to only three types of virus. According to Sanofi, it is still being analyzed why the vaccine is only able to provide protection against three types of virus.


The research phase IIb in Thailand involved 4002 children aged 4-11 years. The study was conducted during the Dengue epidemic.

Sanofi Pasteur himself was said to have invested 423 million U.S. dollars to build a new factory in France in order to develop three doses of vaccine. According to the plan, Sanofi will publish the results of his research in scientific journals in September and present his findings at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Atlanta in November.