Is India close to developing an indigenous monkey fever vaccine?-OxBig News Network

The country’s top medical research body—the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)— has partnered with Hyderabad-headquartered Indian Immunological Ltd to develop the country’s first monkey fever vaccine.

Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), commonly known as monkey fever, is a vector-borne haemorrhagic fever transmitted by ticks from infected monkeys to people. It has no cure.

Work on the country’s first indigenously developed monkey fever vaccine follows the spread of the disease from Karnataka’s Kyasanur forest to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Maharashtra.

ICMR initiated the work after a request from the Karnataka government.  

“India is developing the vaccine for Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD),” said Dr Rajiv Bahl, director general, ICMR, told Mint. There are 5 states in the Western Ghats reporting KFD outbreaks every year. “The Karnataka government requested us to develop the vaccine for KFD. Largely, this vaccine is for forest people and those who reside in nearby forest areas. The host of KFD is monkey, and it is also called monkey fever.” 

Implementing robust animal surveillance and a comprehensive One Health strategy is crucial to controlling the spread of this infection, said Dr. Althaf, an epidemiologist and professor of Community Medicine at Government Medical College, Trivandrum. “As a zoonotic disease, it poses a significant threat, with frequent outbreaks occurring across various regions of the Western Ghats,” he said and added that the KFD vaccine is a two-dose jab, whose second dose is given after an interval of 6-9 months.

Dr Althaf further said that a Bengaluru based firm had reportedly developed a KFD vaccine, but it was discontinued owing to low immunogenicity and the lack of data.

“The previous vaccine was discontinued long ago because it showed no efficacy and was not produced under Good Manufacturing Practice conditions ,” an ICMR spokesperson confirmed.

Notably, India has made it mandatory for all the pharma companies in India to follow WHO GMP compliance to ensure the quality and safety of the drugs and vaccines. 

Kyasanur Forest Disease 

KFD mainly affects monkeys. When infected monkeys die due to the disease, the human handlers of the monkey carcasses get infected by the bite of infected ticks that infest monkeys. People who visit forests or dwell on the fringes of wooded areas are also affected by this disease due to their proximity to ticks.

“The vaccine candidate has been developed and is currently under preclinical testing. It is expected to initiate clinical trials in the second / third quarter of this year. There is no licensed vaccine globally. So, India never imported a KFD vaccine,” the ICMR spokesperson said.

About 200-500 cases occur every year and 3-10% of them die due to the disease, the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has intensified surveillance and control measures for KFD in coordination with the forest department.

According to Karnataka government data, in 2024, the state reported 14 deaths and 303 confirmed cases, out of 17,441 samples tested.

“We have requested the ICMR to develop the KFD vaccine. This year, also cases are getting reported. This is the season,” said a senior official from the Karnataka government, requesting anonymity.