During this year’s World Health Assembly, the U.S. and Taiwan agreed to enter into a dengue vaccine development agreement. To expedite the vaccine development effort, two U.S. experts arrived in Taiwan on last Saturday, June 4, 2016. Besides calling on the Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延), the two U.S. experts were received by the Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁). Clinical trials of the world’s first dengue vaccine for elderly have been planned to be conducted in the elderly population in Taiwan in the future.

Dr. Stephen S. Whitehead, a Senior Associate Scientist in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (LID), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD who visited Taiwan during 1981 and 1983 on a religious mission is not unfamiliar with Taiwan. On June 6, Dr. Whitehead and Dr. Anna Palmer Durbin, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who led the dengue vaccine clinical trial at the school, attended a briefing on the dengue vaccine in Taiwan, which was attended by the Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Ho Chi-kung (何啟功), Academia Sinica Academician Chen Pei-jer (陳培哲), Dean of National Taiwan University College of Medicine Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), Chair Professor of National Cheng Kung University Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁) and representatives from the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA). The briefing participants discussed the effectiveness and safety of the dengue vaccine and all looked forward to the result of the US-Taiwan collaboration.

The dengue vaccine developed by the U.S. NIH has entered into clinical trials in the U.S., Brazil, Thailand and Bangladesh. The trial findings have revealed that the vaccine confers 80-100% protection from all four serotypes of dengue virus. In addition, early this year, the vaccine entered a phase 3 trial in Brazil, and, just recently the vaccine entered a phase 1 trial for elderly aged 50 and above in the U.S.

DEN-2 was the dominant strain circulating during the outbreaks in Taiwan last year and posed an increased threat to the elderly population. Therefore, our government fully supports the implementation of the clinical trial of the dengue vaccine for 250 elderly people in Taiwan. It will be the world’s first dengue vaccine for the elderly population and the research data generated from this clinical trial will be extremely valuable. Taiwan will make the research data public in order to help contribute to global disease prevention.　

Besides the development of the dengue vaccine, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) has also set up a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the general public to look up the addresses, numbers and hours of the 754 clinics in Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County that offer dengue NS1 rapid test, facilitating public access to the appropriate health care services. 　

Although Tainan City has not reported an indigenous dengue case since this March and Kaohsiung City has not reported an indigenous dengue case since this April, the number of imported cases reported thus far this year is 117, which is a new record high since 2011. Last week, 5 imported dengue cases were reported, including 2 from Indonesia and Malaysia, respectively, and 1 from the Philippines. Moreover, several countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Laos, Brazil, Costa Rica and Argentina, have reported higher dengue activity this year as compared to the same period in the previous years.

Since imported dengue cases continue to be reported in Taiwan and the weather forecast has predicted continued high temperatures and a persistent chance of rain in Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County, the risk of a local dengue outbreak in these city and county is elevated. Hence, Taiwan CDC urges the public to continue to remove and clean vector breeding sites and apply officially approved mosquito repellent that contains DEET to prevent mosquito bites. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).