Bangladesh considers dengue vaccine trials as outbreak worsens
Bangladesh is considering clinical trials of a dengue vaccine as the outbreak worsens, with more than 90,350 hospitalised and 281 dead since the start of the year.
DHAKA — Bangladesh is considering clinical trials of a dengue vaccine as the country’s outbreak worsens, the state minister for health said on Tuesday.
More than 90,350 people have been hospitalised with dengue and 281 have died since the start of the year, health ministry data shows. October alone has brought 10,736 hospital admissions and 36 deaths, with recent rainfall creating fresh mosquito-breeding conditions, State Minister for Health M.A. Muhit told reporters.
“With all four dengue serotypes now circulating in Bangladesh, we are considering conducting vaccine trials in the country,” Muhit said. Immunity to one serotype does not protect against the other three, he said.
Any trial would require regulatory approval. Health experts warned dengue is no longer concentrated in major cities, and that spraying alone will not curb transmission unless breeding sites are eliminated.
Bangladesh’s hospitals are also under severe pressure from a measles outbreak that has killed more than 1,100 children, and the country’s surveillance reports mainly hospitalised dengue cases.
The Qdenga vaccine is authorised in more than 40 countries, including Brazil and Indonesia, but Bangladesh has not introduced it into a national programme. Bangladesh suffered its deadliest dengue outbreak on record in 2023, when more than 1,700 people died.
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