Dengvaxia

Dengvaxia is a vaccine used to help protect against dengue disease in people aged 6 to 45 years who have had a previous dengue virus infection. Dengue disease is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus, leading to mild, flu-like symptoms in most people. However, a small number of patients develop severe disease, with potentially fatal bleeding and organ damage. The risk of severe disease is higher in people who have been infected a second time. There are several varieties (called serotypes) of dengue virus and Dengvaxia protects against serotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4. Dengvaxia contains attenuated (weakened) yellow fever viruses that have been modified so that they contain proteins from dengue virus.