Havana. Cuba could have its own dengue rapid diagnosis system and vaccine candidate by the end of this year. According to the Cuban state organization in the field of biotechnology (BioCubaFarma), the projects for a rapid diagnosis and a preventive vaccine against this disease show important progress.
Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, told Granma, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper, that with early detection and access to medical care, the death rate can be reduced to less than one percent. This illustrates the great importance of these research results.
Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and often presents as an acute febrile illness, but it can also develop into an illness with potentially fatal complications. The global prevalence of dengue fever has increased dramatically in recent decades and is found primarily in tropical and subtropical climates, often in urban areas.
Obtaining the vaccine is a complex process as there are four dengue serotypes against which one must immunize at the same time for the product to be effective. According to the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), Cuba’s vaccine candidate for treating dengue fever is based on recombinant proteins, making it a safe technological platform. like dr Guadalupe Guzmán Tirado, director of the Research Center of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), explained that Cuban scientists have spent decades studying dengue fever, contributing to the global fight against this disease.
Dengue fever is a major challenge in many countries. This disease has also occurred frequently in Cuba in recent years. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Tuesday hailed progress in the CIGB’s development of a new dengue vaccine.
Cuba has already made fundamental contributions to this research, for example playing an important role in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) new classification of dengue fever with and without warning signs, aimed at preventing the disease from getting worse.