Though cases of dengue were on the rise, India will have to wait for a vaccine for the vector borne disease, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research said on Tuesday.
The vaccine Dengvaxia, manufactured by Sanofi Pastuer has not been approved by the ministry of health and family welfare yet, and specific data on dengue prevalence was needed before the vaccine could be introduced, Swaminathan said at an event to mark National Dengue Day.
Since last year, May 16 has been marked as National Dengue Day, to plan efforts to control the disease which had affected over 1,11,880 people and claimed 227 lives in 2016, rising consistently since 2010. Currently, only paracetamol is used to treat the high fever, and patients are advised to drink lots of fluid.
The ICMR was going to embark on a large scale prevalence study, where age and region specific data related to dengue would be recorded, said Swaminathan. The epidemiology and environment of each state was different and had to be factored in when understanding the disease for introducing the vaccine, she said.
In Kerala, for instance, Swaminathan said that mosquitoes were breeding in the leaves of pineapple and rubber, while in drier areas such as Rajkot, mosquitoes would breed in water that people stored to counter water shortages.
