Occurring across Asia , Africa , and the Indian subcontinent , Chikungunyais a little known tropic disease that is thought to taint at least 3 million people every year . Spread by mosquito , it has of late had epidemics in both Europe and the Americas , yet currently , with no cure , all physician can do is care for the symptoms . researcher have now , however , created whatcould be a vaccineto protect against the computer virus .
Chikungunya is classified by the World Health Organization , alongside the Dengue virus , as one of 20 or so “ neglect tropic disease ” . These are a radical of illnesses that predominantly taint the poorest people on the major planet who live in the developing humanity , and despite jointly infecting an estimated 1.4 billion people , do not have the same focus or financial backing generally give to other more gamey profile disease , namely HIV / AIDS , tuberculosis , and malaria .
The virus is conduct via septic mosquitoes . The name “ chikungunya”translates as“to become wring ” , in reference to spartan joint pain and fever , as well as headaches and a roseola , which usually last for a few week but can extend for months and even years . In really peculiarly severe case , it can even lead to death . There is currently no cure for the disease , and handling usually need care for the symptom instead .
But now research worker from the University of Texas may have acquire the first effective vaccinum , published inNature Medicine . Rather than using live - attenuated or inactivated chikungunya viruses , which is how vaccines are usually created , the research worker have taken an insect computer virus and edited it to make a hybrid .
By making the Eilat computer virus , which normally infects mosquito ’ express Chikungunya proteins , they finagle to make a cross that was structurally identical to the natural Chikungunya computer virus . The main divergence being that because it is based on the Eilat virus , it can not infect mammal cells . When the research worker essay this vaccinum on mice , they come up that four days after a single dose , the rodents were produce antibodies primed against the Chikungunya virus that lasted in the eubstance for 290 days .
The team of scientist has even test the new vaccine on non - human archpriest and detect that it gave them a racy immunity to the disease . “ This vaccinum offers effective , secure and affordable auspices against chikungunya and builds the introduction for using viruses that only infect insect to develop vaccines against other louse - bear diseases,”explainedlead investigator Professor Scott Weaver .
