A vaccine against dengue fever, a potentially serious flu-like infection that is on the rise, is undergoing tests at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

If it’s eventually proven effective, it could have far-reaching implications. About 2.5 billion people in more than 100 countries are at risk of such an infection – including some in the United States. It’s been discovered in Florida.

The vaccine has been in development for more than a decade at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is finally ready for the first phase of clinical study – the safety phase.
Dengue fever is caused by any of four viruses and is carried by Aedes mosquitoes. It infects about 50-100 million people a year in mostly tropical regions, causing 25,000 deaths, mostly in children, according to the institute.

Some people get flu-like symptoms or worse, and others experience a mild fever or nothing.
For now, there’s no vaccine to prevent the infection and no treatment other than bed rest and fever medicine. And it’s pretty hard to avoid getting bit by a mosquito.

“Controlling the mosquito vector can work, but it is very expensive and difficult to sustain,” Dr. Anna Durbin, who is leading the study at Johns Hopkins, said in a statement. “In the long run, vaccination would be a more efficient and cost-effective approach.”

There will be a second phase of testing with more participants to check the effectiveness of the vaccine. If all goes as planned, a final phase of testing could start in three to four years.

For more information, go to the institute's dengue fever website. 

Getty Images picture of worker looking for mosquito larvae in Miami Beach, Fla.