#dnaEdit: Dengue defeated

In tropical countries — where the incidence of dengue is high, and deaths due to the disease quite alarming — the news of the world’s first dengue vaccine coming up trumps in human trials in India spells relief. The results of the tests from the six Indian cities have been as encouraging as the response in 10 other countries spread across Asia, Latin America and the Caribbeans, prompting its launch in early 2015.

The sweeping nature of dengue needs no further reiteration, if one goes by the statistics in Maharashtra alone where 3,000 cases have been reported so far — the highest in the country — and 24 people, including eight in Mumbai, have succumbed to the vector-borne menace. Globally, the World Health Organization pegs the number of infections between 50 and 100 million, claiming 22,000 lives, mostly of children.

The failure of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in dealing with what can be called an annual occurrence is symptomatic of the way civic authorities across the country undertake preventive measures. In Patna, for example, dengue cases have shot up exponentially, calling into question the efficiency of the civic body. Forget a concerted drive involving the government and citizens, something as elementary as fogging, which the BMC should have taken up in earnest to check mosquito breeding, is often forgotten. The dengue tests in private hospitals are an expensive affair, where one kit can cost Rs700 in a city like Nagpur.

Clearly, fighting dengue, malaria or even tuberculosis are low on the priority list of governments and pharma companies who are training their guns on high profile viruses like HIV. This is not to say that there should be any let up in finding a cure to AIDS that has already seen billions of dollars in research-related programmes. After all these years of sustained awareness campaigns and significant improvements in AIDS regimens, it’s still a number one killer on a global scale. Sadly, the same sense of urgency in finding a vaccine to the Ebola virus is missing, as it is when it comes to other diseases that have been plaguing mankind for aeons now. In the early days of colonial rule, the East India Company lost more Englishmen to tropical diseases in India than several Waterloos clubbed together. Malaria is one such disease that has posed constant challenges to the remedies offered by medical science. The tuberculosis bacteria has mutated rapidly to withstand cutting-edge drugs. It wouldn’t be in the least surprising if dengue acquires a deadlier strain in the coming days — nature’s way of keeping scientists on their toes.

This brings us to the all-important issue of research and development. India’s apathy in this regard is all too well known, even as it grapples with a host of diseases, most of which thrive because of the near-absence of cleanliness and sanitation. But, the US, too, can be accused of pursuing frivolous matters. The massive outcry over the elusive Ebola vaccine has unearthed shocking facts about the National Institutes of Health, a leading medical research centre in the US. The NIH is currently “spending $1.5 million to study why lesbians have a tendency to be overweight, while gay men do not”. The $1 million study on the sex life of fruit flies is no less astonishing, given that the NIH complains about budget cuts.

It’s true money doesn’t always translate into cure, but it can at least try to hasten the progress of new drugs that can benefit millions in the poor and developing countries.