Cuban vaccine candidate against dengue

Havana, March 21 (RHC) The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, recognized on Tuesday the progress made in the vaccine candidate against dengue, developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology -CIGB.

"Sooner rather than later, Cuba will have its vaccine against dengue," said the head of state on his official Twitter account. The president shared a CIGB publication, which explains that the vaccine candidate is based on recombinant proteins and has a very safe technological platform.

"We have a tetravalent candidate, based on proteins from the four dengue viruses, which we are evaluating at this time," the scientific institution specified on Twitter.

Obtaining the vaccine is a complex process because dengue has four serotypes and it is necessary to immunize against each of them at the same time, for the product to be effective.

In the course of 2023, a new rapid diagnosis system for dengue should be available, in which specialists from the Immunoassay Center work. The president of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries Business Group, Eduardo Martínez, argued that this system would make it possible to determine, upon the appearance of the first symptoms, whether it is dengue or a second infection. According to Martínez, this will serve to apply a differentiated treatment to patients, and avoid the aggravation of the disease and death. (Source: Prensa Latina).