In an interview with Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, our Dengue Research Group Head Sophie Yacoub talked about Dengue and why dengue research matters not just in Vietnam but globally. Dengue is a viral infection that is spread by mosquitoes, Aedes mosquitoes which are day-biting mosquitoes. Dengue causes a self-limiting viral infection where people have a high fever and feel like body aches and headaches for about seven days. Most people recover but a minority can go on to get a severe disease which can be life-threatening.
Sophie also discusses how OUCRU is working to understand Dengue’s biological mechanisms, targeting it with different therapies, and using innovative technology to monitor patients and predict which will develop severe disease. There have been a number of important discoveries in the past five to ten years.
Under the influence of climate change, it is predicted that more countries will be endemic and the number of 100 million infections a year around the world is increasing. Therefore, she believes it’s really important to invest in this area of research as currently we don’t have any particular therapies as well as vaccines to prevent this disease.
You can find out more about the interview in this link: https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/wall-of-faces/sophie-yacoub-podcast