The Potential for Dengue Vaccines:

The potential for prevention of dengue by immunization appears technically feasible. Effective vaccines have been produced against other Flavivirus diseases (i.e., yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and tick-borne encephalitis) and infection by each dengue virus (DENV) results in life-long immunity to subsequent infection with that virus. To protect against disease from the four DENV serotypes, a dengue vaccine must be a tetravalent formulation. Five candidate vaccines are now in preclinical or clinical evaluation.

A Clear Public Health Need for Dengue Vaccines:

A survey of policy makers and public health professionals in four South East Asian countries - Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, and Indonesia, was conducted in 2002 to determine policy makers' views on the public health importance of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever, the need for the vaccines. The survey outcome revealed a uniformly high level of concern about dengue fever/DHF and a high and urgent perceived need for a dengue vaccine. This survey among policy makers is now being repeated in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, and Nicaragua, and preliminary results are showing a continued and urgent perceived need for dengue vaccines to combat spreading and more frequent outbreaks now being experienced throughout the dengue-endemic world.

Dengue Vaccines in Development:

Dengue 1-4 are single-stranded RNA viruses that produce short, self-limited illnesses in humans and readily induce life-long immunity. Closely related viruses, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, have been successfully prevented by live-attenuated vaccines. Existing technologies have resulted in several robust dengue vaccine candidates, but many challenges remain. The consensus is that a safe, broadly protective dengue vaccine for children can be achieved in a matter of years by a focused, intense effort.

The PDVI currently maintains a portfolio of five vaccine candidates being developed by 7 different organizations. Other candidates are in the research phase and new information may justify their being added to the PDVI portfolio. PDVI maintains close scrutiny of the research arena to assess if additional vaccine candidates look promising and need to be added to the PDVI portfolio.