Recife, September 29, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The state of Pernambuco will dispose of US$ 7 million to develop a genetic vaccine to combat dengue fever. This initiative will be carried out through an agreement signed between the Ageu Magalhães Research Center, which is a unit of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and the Johns Hopkins Medical School, in the United States.

The first step to implant the project was taken on Friday (26), at a meeting between the state governor, Jarbas Vasconcelos, the state secretary of Health, Guilherme Robalinho, and the researcher from Johns Hopkins, Ernesto Marques, who will coordinate the project.

The first stage will be to identify the virus's vulnerable points through genome research, using a computer program. Afterwards, the researchers will perform laboratory tests of the vaccine. At the same time, a satellite system will be installed to identify centers of dengue fever anywhere in the state. The idea is to avoid the spread of the epidemic, which, this year alone, has infected 8,463 residents of Pernambuco.

"Production of the vaccine will benefit the entire population of the world, since the disease does not affect only poor countries, such as the countries of Africa and Central America, but rich ones as well, as is the case of Singapore and Hong Kong," Marques emphasized. The researchers estimate that the vaccine will be available in five years. (DAS)