While the Zika outbreak is currently one of the hot topic in the fields of virology and public health, another arbovirus stays close to international attention: Dengue virus. The world first dengue vaccine (Dengvaxia® (CYD-TDV), developed by Sanofi Pasteur) has been registered in Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil and El Salvador. In April 2016, the WHO Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization emitted its first recommendation after reviewing the vaccine: introduce it "only in geographic settings with high endemicity". WHO has announced that the organization will publish a more detailed report in July 2016 to specify its position and its recommendations regarding the vaccine.
Dr. Philippe Dussart, Institut Pasteur in Cambodia. © Healthwise
Dengvaxia and dengue vaccine development is just one of the subjects addressed by Dr. Philippe Dussart, Head of the Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia in an interview called "The Dengue Peril" by the Cambodian magazine Healthwise Digest (Vol. 2 No.12 March 2016). Dr. Dussart comes back to the increase of dengue cases in Cambodia, the disease prevention, the time needed to develop vaccines, the absence of treatment drug.
Read the interview here.