There are many stories about dengue fever. Someone has lost a family member, a friend, a colleague or an acquaintance. This disease, caused by the Aedes aegypti vector, which for many years has claimed the lives of thousands of people, now has a solution.
It has taken many years of work to find an answer. Previous studies for the approval of the biologic required the demonstration of a balanced and sustained immune response against the 4 serotypes of dengue I,II,III,IV, and thus, avoid increasing the risk of severe dengue when vaccinated.
The studies were conducted in 14 countries, in 88 research centers, and 19 trials between phase I and phase 3. Of these trials, 4 were conducted in Colombia and involved 3,900 Colombian participants with a wide age range. In total, more than 28,000 participants took part in the research.
The vaccine, called Qdenga® and developed by the Takeda laboratory, is aimed at the entire population, between 4 and 60 years of age. In Colombia, it was approved by Invima in November 2023 and was marketed from the second half of 2024, i.e., it is already available in private and recognized vaccination centers. To date, this biologic is not part of the PAI, Annual Immunization Plan, however, it is expected to be authorized very soon.
The efficacy of the QDenga vaccine prevents 91% of severe disease and hospitalization and up to 80% of dengue infection. The planned doses are 2, over a period of 3 months.
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Iceland, Malaysia, Norway, United Kingdom, Thailand and the entire European Union are the countries where the biologic has been approved.
Side effects include pain and redness at the injection site, fever, headache, muscle pain, general malaise and weakness in some cases. These are usually mild to moderate and self-limited.
During 2024 in Santander there have been more than 34,000 cases, of which 30 have been fatal. The municipalities most affected have been those in the metropolitan area, whose incidence is higher than the national rate.
“We receive with great expectation and hope to be able to contribute to control dengue and with the certainty that it is one more prevention strategy that joins those already known,” said Dr. Luis Migue Sosa. Physician. Specialist in Infectious Diseases. Professor assigned to the Department of Pediatrics of the School of Medicine.
