- India has indigenously developed the first ever vaccine to treat bloody dysentery known as Shigellosis.Shigellosis is an infectious disease caused by a group of bacteria called Shigella.
- The vaccine has been developed by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED).
- Most of those who are infected with Shigella develop diarrhoea,fever and stomach cramps starting a day or two after they are exposed to the bacteria.Shigellosis is recognised as a disease mainly affecting Asian and African nations.
- Further,the disease is currently treated through antibiotics but considering the fact that antibiotic resistance has become a major concern,the vaccine was the need of the hour.
- The developed vaccine is a dead vaccine which means it is a dead germ of the bacteria causing disease which would be introduced in the body so that the immune system develops immunity against it.
