By July next year, the world may see the first ever vaccine for dengue.
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur is now working on a vaccine as the endemic — as it was declared in July — worsens in Malaysia.
The company said in a statement that a second ‘late-stage clinical study’ revealed that the vaccine could give 95.5 per cent protection from severe dengue. It could also reduce the need for hospitalisation by 80.3 per cent, Bernama reports.
The Health Ministry revealed shocking figures on the rise of dengue in the country recently, pointing out that 72,603 cases were recorded from January 1 to September 13 this year. This is a marked increase from 52,096 cases during the same period last year.
Sanofi Pasteur said in the statement that it had conducted a study involving over 31,000 participants from 10 endemic countries in Latin America and Asia. Malaysia was among them.
