Trial results raise hope for dengue fever vaccine

A tetravalent dengue vaccine has shown efficacy against dengue fever and severe dengue fever and led to fewer hospitalisations in a randomised, blinded, placebo controlled trial. The efficacy trial, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine ,1 was carried out in five Latin American countries in which dengue is endemic. A total of 20 869 healthy children aged 9 to 16 were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive either three injections of recombinant, live attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine (CYD-TDV) or placebo. Dengue is transmitted by mosquitoes …