- Scientists at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S. have developed a new vaccine using human culture cells that produce 3 proteins found on the surface of the chikungunya virus.
- These particles then assemble to resemble the virus and are capable of inducing an immune response without being infectious and intolerable.
- The vaccine was found to be tolerable and capable of producing durable immunity up to 11 months after vaccination.
- In earlier trial on monkeys it proved capable of sustaining against high doses of infections.
- Indian manufacturer Bharat Biotech is looking to obtain regulatory approval for its vaccine for chikungunya virus which has been developed entirely in-house using the inactivated form of the virus.
- The technology is of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the strain had been isolated during the 2005 outbreak in India.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/chikungunya-vaccine-shows-promise/article6336407.ece