This disease, transmitted by mosquitoes, is likely to pose more and more health problems in the future.
Even if in France, there are currently only about fifteen imported cases per year, we know that chikungunya is a disease that is likely to spread in the years to come. It is transmitted via the tiger mosquito and another family of mosquitoes already widespread in the world and which is increasingly settling in Europe, due in particular to global warming.
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Five million cases of chikungunya have thus been identified during the last 15 years in the world. And even if this disease is not fatal in general, it causes high fevers and very strong and long-lasting joint pains, hence its name “chikungunya”, an African word from Tanzania, which means “disease that twists the joints “.
At this stage, there is no preventive or curative treatment, hence the hope aroused by the injection of the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva. This vaccine works with the very classic technique of the attenuated virus. That is to say, we have cultivated the chikungunya virus and removed certain pieces from it, so that it is less pathogenic, and causes an immune reaction without the disease.
This vaccine could be available within five years
This phase 3 trial is giving very encouraging results, says Professor Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, immunologist specializing in vaccines. The study published in The Lancetindicates that one month after injection, the presence of antibodies was observed in 99% of volunteers, and remains elevated for at least five months in all participants.
If all goes well, it could be developed in the next five years, but there are still several uncertainties: first, will this vaccine be effective during a pandemic, and in people who have already crossed the virus ? The question arises because the clinical trial was carried out in the United States, where the virus is virtually absent. But in general, it is very difficult to carry out clinical trials in real conditions, because chikungunya epidemics are quite unpredictable.
In addition, it will also be necessary to control the occurrence of adverse effects: for the moment, out of 3,000 people vaccinated, only two have developed side effects. But it remains to verify the tolerance of the vaccine on a large scale.