Government to do nationwide survey for dengue epidemiology

 New Delhi: The government will soon begin a nationwide dengue prevalence survey to understand the epidemiology of the vector-borne disease before undertaking any vaccine intervention.

"Before introduction of any new vaccine, you need to now the epidemiology of this disease or any disease. But, for dengue, we realised we do not have any. And, so this nationwide prevalence survey would be taken up," Director General of ICMR Soumya Swaminathan said.

She was speaking at an MoU signing function here as part of which the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Monash University of Australia will conduct laboratory trials on a global vector-control method, whereby a naturally occurring bacteria (Wolbachia) is introduced into dengue virus-carrying mosquitoes to "inhibit" viral transmission.

"National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) in Chennai will be doing it and it would be a comprehensive one. So, it will take 1-2 years. We will begin in 2-3 months," Swaminathan, also Secretary of Department of Health Research, said.

Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations.

A global pharmaceutical major has come up with a vaccine on dengue but it has not been introduced in India.

"That vaccine is like a booster vaccine, which means, it works if one has already got dengue infection. We need to know how many people have dengue anti-bodies...And where can we introduce the vaccine. So, before undertaking any vaccine intervention, we need to understand its epidemiology.

"We need to understand its epidemiology on various parameters, rural or urban or peri-urban. Also, geography-wise, north or south. But, by the end of the survey, we will have a good data. A comprehensive demographic profile on dengue epidemiology," the ICMR DG said.

Swaminathan said that besides dengue prevalence survey, the government is also planning a survey to understand the disease burden of hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C.

"For treatment of hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C, we need to know the disease burden, before undertaking any intervention. Hepatitis-A is water-borne but the other two are contracted through injection or sexually transmitted.

"Our priority would be hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C as we limited dry blood spots. So, hepatitis-A burden study would eb considered accordingly," she said, adding that it would be done through National Family Health Survey.