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In a large trial, a dengue immunization developed by Takeda Vaccines reduced the number of dengue by more than 80 percent relative to a control group, and cut the number of hospitalizations due to the disease by more than 95 percent, the company reported Wednesday (November 6) in The New England Journal of Medicine. But experts say that results from a longer follow-up are needed before drawing conclusions about the vaccine.
A previously tested dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, turned out to increase the severity of later disease in children who had never been infected with dengue prior to receiving the jab. Many researchers think that’s because there are not one, but four, closely related dengue viruses, and developing antibodies to one of those viruses makes people more vulnerable to subsequent infection by a different dengue virus. In the case of Dengvaxia, “The vaccine was acting as a ...
