Survey to check dengue spread in country

ACCORDING TO GOVERNMENT DATA, IN 2016, 1,11,000 CASES WERE REPORTED AND 227 PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES TO THE VIRAL INFECTION IN INDIA

NEW DELHI: A national level survey has been planned by the government to gauge prevalence of dengue in the country, say experts at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The exercise was planned after government’s apex body rejected the only vaccine against dengue in use globally, for use in India last year as there was no evidence of its efficacy in the country. “The vaccine works better if there is high anti-body rate within the community, and there was not enough India-specific data available for reference that raised safety concerns,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, director, ICMR.

“India is a vast country and we do not know much about the dengue pattern; which strain is common in which part of the country etc. There is a need to gather more information and the survey will help us,” she added.

Dengue is one of the most fatal mosquito-borne viral infections in the world.

According to government data, in 2016, 1,11,000 cases were reported and 227 people lost their lives to the viral infection across India. This is despite state governments actively taking measures to control the spread of the disease before the onset of monsoon.

Experts at ICMR said there was limited data to assess the efficacy of the vaccine, therefore, it could not have been given the go-ahead. In May, the committee concerned had concluded that the data presented by the vaccine’s manufacturer was inadequate to show immunogenicity of the vaccine in Indians. Immunogenicity is the ability of a substance to provoke an immune response in the body.

National Institute of Epidemiology in Chennai will lead the project.

“The protocol for the survey is being developed currently, and we should be able to generate relevant data in about a year from now,” said Dr Swaminathan.