SUNY Upstate Medical University recently partnered with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to develop a vaccine for dengue fever, which, as of Dec. 7, had infected at least 139 people in Hawaii, according to NBC News.

The university plans to perform clinical studies as part of its dengue research, which will span three and a half years. The study will be used to profile the four strains of dengue in an effort to forge forward in the development of a vaccine, according to the State University of New York Upstate Medical University website.

The disease is caused from the bite of an infected mosquito. Richard Mata, a pediatrician who deals with dengue fever on a daily basis in Panabo, a city in the Philippines, said in a Skype interview that the disease kills about 1 percent of people who contract it.

Dengue fever is accompanied by symptoms of high fever, headache, joint pain, mild bleeding and muscle and bone pain. Besides taking pain relievers, there is no specific treatment for the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

The dengue virus originated in monkeys and later jumped to humans in Africa or Southeast Asia between 100 and 800 years ago, according to the CDC website. Although the disease is rather uncommon in the United States, the disease-carrying mosquito, Aedes, is common in tropical regions and is known to attack during the day.

“It’s when people are outside or when children are playing in playgrounds; they are more prone for dengue,” Mata said.

Dengue exists in four subcategories, or serotypes, Mata said. Giving a vaccine that defends against one strain will only cause a more significant reaction to the mosquito bite, he added.

“Doctors will not accept if your vaccine is only good for one strain,” Mata said.

Dr. Timothy Endy, a lead researcher on the vaccine at Upstate, said in an email that the first vaccine will only defend against the first strain of dengue fever, and it will take about six months to develop. He said it will take about three years to develop and optimize a solution for the other three strains.

Endy said he expects the vaccine to reduce severe infection, hospitalization and intensive care unit visits, as well as decrease the numbers of deaths correlated to dengue infection.

Published on December 9, 2015 at 10:28 pm

Contact Kenneth: kmintz@syr.edu