Severe strain of dengue causes spike in deaths, says paper
A severe strain of dengue has killed more than 130 Malaysians this year.
The appearance of a particularly severe strain of dengue has left Malaysia with nearly four times the number of deaths this year compared with the same period in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The paper quoted Rose Nani Mudin of the Health Ministry’s vector-borne diseases section as saying the strain of dengue, DEN-2, began appearing in force in March 2013, a shift from the previously prevalent DEN-3 and DEN-4 serotypes.
“It is a virus evolution,” she was quoted as saying.
“The Aedes mosquito can lay eggs even in one small teaspoon of water. One mosquito can lay about 100 eggs. Imagine, if all these eggs hatch and become adult mosquitoes. There will be 100 mosquitoes within one week.”
According to the report, dengue typically comes in four virus variations: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4. DEN-2 is an especially dangerous serotype, Rose told the paper.
As of end-August, Malaysia had reported 131 dengue-related deaths compared with 38 in the same period last year. A total of 68,144 infections were also reported, compared with 18,923 last year.
Selangor had the highest number of dengue cases nationwide, with 34,404 cases and 51 deaths from January to August compared with 8,694 cases and 10 deaths during the same period last year.
Kelantan, too, saw a surge in dengue cases from August 17 to August 23, with 1,286 cases and one death reported.
According to the paper, other factors for this year’s outbreak included weather conditions, with the recent prolonged dry season and occasional heavy rains which were ideal conditions for mosquito breeding.
The paper also quoted health specialists who cited increasing mobility of Malaysians which moved the virus around the country.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that French drugmaker Sanofi had obtained a 60.8% success rate in the final clinical trial of its dengue vaccine.
The vaccine, which is the first dengue vaccine in the world, provided high protection against dengue haemorrhagic fever and cut by 80% the risk of hospitalisation.
According to Reuters, the vaccine was 42.3% efficient in tackling DEN-2, compared with 35% in a previous Asian trial on some 10,000 children.
Rose lauded the increase, telling WSJ, “35% protection for DEN-2 is not enough. Our target is 80% for all the four serotypes.”
Sanofi chief executive Chris Viehbacher told Reuters in July that Mexico, Brazil and Colombia could be the first to market the vaccine.
The first batches will be ready next year and Sanofi aims to sell the first doses in the second half of 2015.
Dengue kills an estimated 20,000 people each year, many of them children. – September 5, 2014.
