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Dengue has caused havoc in many parts of India. Although the disease is curable it leaves a devastating impact on the physical and mental health of the patient. The time taken for recovery differs from patient to patient but is mostly more than a month and so on. The most worrying factor is the sudden decline in platelet count and if not treated early, Dengue can make survival difficult.
However, now the scientists are diverting their attention towards genome sequencing which they believe can help in keeping the spread of Dengue in check. According to WHO, half of the people in the world face the risk of getting this disease and millions of people are getting infected by it every year. It is a very alarming figure.
Dr Rajesh Karyakarte who works as the head at the Department of Microbiology, BJGMC, and Maharashtra coordinator of genome sequencing talking to Indian Express recently said, “Whole Genome Sequencing from specimens will help track the spread of the virus apart from providing a deeper understanding into how it changes and why those mutations could affect public health.”
Professor L S Shashidhara who is the director at the National Center for Biological Sciences as well as the founder of PKC said, “The effort towards genomic sequencing of the virus is important as this information will be useful for the effective control of the disease’s spread.”
He further said, “From the experience of SARS Cov-2, we know that viruses spread widely and during this spreading, they also change and newer and newer variants emerge. Some cause severe disease, some milder and some may be entirely harmless. Our immune response to infection too varies with different variants of the virus. Given this, it is important to know in any given region, which variant is spreading.”
Professor Shashidhara thinks that this information can be used effectively for controlling the spread of Dengue. The results from the study will also be used for developing vaccines for Dengue and other viruses.
