French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is authorized to combat dengue fever in three countries

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito, distributed in tropical zones throughout the world, is the main vector of both dengue and yellow fever viruses. When the female mosquito sups human blood, it often deposits the virus that causes dengue, and this can bring about some 400 million infections a year worldwide. Among children, in particular, this painful, flu-like disease can be fatal. And, up until recently, no truly effective prevention had existed.

This situation is changing, because the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is now distributing its genetically-engineered Dengvaxia vaccine throughout three major dengue-infection zones: Mexico, the Philippines and Brazil.

The new headquarters of this prestigious company are located in the small suburb of Gentilly, to the south of Paris, where I worked for several years in a high-tech computing company.