A popular maxim goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, and there’s been never a truer adage when it comes to combating high-profile diseases like dengue.
As such, pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur has released Dengvaxia, the world’s first and only dengue vaccine against all four dengue serotypes.
“Dengvaxia could serve as a critical line of defense to complement the prevention efforts by governments, families and individuals in dengue-endemic nations, such as the Philippines,” the pharma giant said, as it hosted a media forum on dengue and the vaccine recently at Dusit Thani in Makati City.
Among the many topics explored in the discussion were the current status and impact of dengue disease globally as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the clinical profile of the vaccine and its potentials in reducing dengue cases in the Philippines.
“When talking about dengue, what we like to ask is, ‘How many dengue cases occur in the world?’ and, recently, we found out from a number of studies that approximately half of the global population is at risk of the disease,” said Sanofi Pasteur Head of Epidemiology Joshua Nealon, adding the WHO reported that dengue cases have grown manifold from 1965 to 2015, making it the fastest growing mosquito-borne disease.
Asia bears 70 percent of the global disease burden, followed by Latin America and Africa. The first known severe case of the dengue hemorrhagic fever, meanwhile, was recorded in Manila, back in 1953.
“In the Philippines all four dengue serotypes [DEN-1 to DEN-4] are constantly circulating because it is a hyper-endemic country. Most cases here happen in people between the ages of 5 to 20, and the median age of infection is 12 to 13 years of age,” Nealon added.
Continuing, he said most Flipinos probably have had one dengue episode but they weren’t aware of it, for the first infection is asymptomatic. “By the age of 9, approximately 90 percent of Filipinos have already been infected.”
Addressing this, Sanofi Pasteur Associate VP and Regional Head Alain Bouckenooghe said the introduction of Dengvaxia in public-health programs in the Philippines could be the first step to help prevent severe cases of dengue.
Early this year, the Department of Health (DOH) implemented a school-based immunization program for 1 million 9-year-olds in public schools around Region 3, Region 4A and the National Capital Region.
As per the clinical profile of their vaccine, including contraindications and age restrictions, Bouckenooghe said Dengvaxia is most ideal for the use of people between ages of 9 and 45, adding there’s no sufficient benefits proven for age groups 9 and below, while for 45 and above, the probability of being inflicted with the disease is significantly lower.
The most common side-effects of the vaccine include headache, muscle pain, general malaise, injection site pain and fever that will most likely occur within three days after the injection of the vaccine. Also, the side effects will be the same, regardless of sero-status, that is, whether one has already been diagnosed with dengue prior to the vaccination.
Sanofi also clarified that there’s no data supporting some claims that the vaccination will increase the risk of infection. For the primary immunization plan, Dengvaxia is approved for a three-dose, 0/6/12 month schedule. Pregnant women, immunocompromised people, and cancer, advanced HIV and thymoma patients, on the other hand, are not advised to undergo vaccination shots.
In closing, Sanofi said the dengue vaccine could be an important tool for reaching the WHO goal of reducing dengue morbidity by at least 25 percent and mortality by at least 50 percent by 2020, and eliminating fatalities from vaccine-preventable diseases.