Anti-dengue drug to be created within 5 years

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments all around the world have begun to prioritise health. Dengue fever is not a new occurrence in the country. Dengue fever affects thousands of people every year. There is currently no cure for this virus, which is spread to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes.

The administration has taken a more serious approach to combating the disease now. The Department of Biotechnology’s THSTI (Transitional Health Science and Technology Institute) has partnered with the DNDI (Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative) India Foundation to accomplish this.

Under this agreement, an effective dengue drug will be developed within the next five years. As per the scheme, government and non-government organisations will jointly research and develop effective, safe and cheap medicine for dengue. An officer familiar with this scheme has given this information.

According to statistics, there are 39 crore dengue infection cases every year in about a hundred countries. 70% of these cases are found in Asia. In 2021, there were 164,103 dengue cases in India while in 2019 there were 205,243 new cases.

No cure for dengue till now

THSTI Executive Director Pramod Kumar Garg said that as of now there is no antiviral medicine for dengue. In this case the use of vaccine is also limited.

Although research is being done for the treatment of dengue, but till now we have not been able to get any effective result in this direction.

He said that this is why it is important that there is an increase in efforts in this direction so that millions of people can be saved from its ill effects.

He said that partnership with DNDI India Foundation is an important step in this direction. With this they will be able to develop effective medicine.

How research will be done

Under this partnership, pre-clinical studies will be done for the treatment of dengue. In this, medicines prepared from before will be used to test how much effective they are on dengue. Along with this, new methods of affordable and accessible treatment will also be discovered. The combination of two medicines will also be tested in clinical trials. These drugs will be tested at different stages of the disease in patients.

Symptoms in dengue

Dengue is one of the 10 biggest public health risks in the world. In India, dengue disease spreads rapidly during the monsoon. There is fever, restlessness, vomiting and extreme pain in the body.