There has been an outbreak of Dengue in Kerala and Tamilnadu this year.
Indian drug approval processes are ill equipped to deal with new Dengue medicines.
What is dengue?
Dengue afflicts close to 400 million people a year.
It is spread through the bite of an infected female Aedes Aegyptus mosquito.
Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) can lead to lethal complications.
DHF in its severe form causes Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS.
DSS is associated with very high mortality rate as the blood pressure drops down drastically and organs start to collapse
There are no vaccines for the disease.
What are recent inventions in dengue treatment?
Australians discovered, when the Aedes mosquito is infected with the Wolbachia bacterium it is unable to carry the dengue virus.
If Wolbachia could be made to infect the mosquito population that might offer a cure for dengue.
Age old technique of faecal micro biota transplant is founded to treat dengue.
Synthetic biology, modifying bacteria to perform specific functions is new support in dengue cure.
Recently researches in Mumbai, used biomarkers for treatment of dengue.
Lot of new custom made treatment are emerging in dengue treatment.
What are the issues with Indian medicine approval system?
India is ill-equipped to regulate new medicines according to the needs.
Indian drug approval processes are designed to assess medicines that are intended to be used by vast swathes of the population.
Research and development are mooted in a high rate, but the success rate of the quality drugs are less.
Quick facts
Micro biome
It is a collective environment of microorganisms
It is found in and on all multicellular organisms studied to date from plants to animals.
A micro biota includes bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Micro biota have been found to be crucial for immunologic, hormonal and metabolic homeostasis of their host.
FMT
Faecal Micro biota Transplant (FMT) is a procedure in which faecal matter, or stool, is collected from a tested donor.
It is mixed with a saline or other solution, strained, and placed in a patient, by endoscopy, or enema etc.
The purpose of faecal transplant is to replace good bacteria that has been killed or suppressed, usually by the use of antibiotics, causing bad bacteria, specifically Clostridium difficile.
Biomarkers
Biomarkers are indicators that help in determining the presence or severity of a disease.
It is used to have a knowledge of the disease progression in different individuals suffering from the disease.
