Cuban ongoing projects to have a system for rapid diagnosis of dengue and a preventive vaccine against this disease show important advances, which could translate into concrete results for this year, confirmed authorities of the Business Group of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries (BioCubaFarma in Spanish).
On Twitter, Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, reported that in the course of 2023 the new rapid diagnostic system for dengue should be available, on which specialists from the Immunoassay Center are working.
In statements to Granma, Martínez Díaz argued that this would make it possible to determine, upon the appearance of the first symptoms, whether it is dengue and/or a second infection, in order to apply a differentiated treatment to patients, and avoid aggravation of the disease and death.
He added that it is also likely to have the first vaccine candidate against this viral disease, transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, this year. "Both projects will have a significant impact on the health and welfare of our population," said Martínez Díaz.
According to the scientists, obtaining the vaccine is a complex process, because dengue has four serotypes and it is necessary to immunize against each one of them at the same time for the product to be effective.
As stated by Dr. Guadalupe Guzmán Tirado, director of the Research Center of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), Cuban scientists have devoted decades of work to dengue, with contributions to the world in the fight against this disease.
Proof of this is the fundamental role played by Cuba in the new classification made by the World Health Organization (WHO), of dengue with and without warning signs, focused on preventing the patient's aggravation.
Translated by ESTI
