May I suggest you also look at # 55 and 56 in this thread (
http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....ngue-Fever-Map
) .


Even the " efficacy " trials of the Sanofi-Pasteur vaccine will not be completed until the end of 2014.


The main reason a vaccine is not yet available for dengue is " immunobiology " – there are 4 main dengue virus (sero)types. If any one of these has been absent for a while and reappears, it may produce an epidemic because there is little immunity and increased risk of severe dengue illness. There have been many setbacks in vaccine development.
( http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la...510-4/fulltext
).



Much remains to be done before an effective vaccine is available. Specific drugs and better diagnostic methods are also needed. For the foreseeable future, avoiding mosquito bites; use of insect repellents ( containing DEET, although there is increasing insect tolerance ) ; targeting mosquito breeding sites : and use of chemicals to kill larvae / adults ( aerosols ) are the best hope of controlling this infectious disease of truly enormous proportions.


The actual number of infections is not known – World Health Organisation’s estimate of 50 – 100 million / year is probably closer than the " nearly 400m " quoted. Other factors in the increasing numbers of cases are a tendency for the culprit mosquitoes to bite at night as well as by day, and climate change. It has recently encroached on Europe ( Croatia, France and Madeira ). Infections in travellers returning to UK are probably now in the hundreds each year.



Chikungunya, an infection resembling dengue but less severe, and with no vaccine or specific treatment ( yet ), is also increasingly recognised ( see this Health Issues section ).