Hawaii Biotech announced yesterday that it has received a grant from the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative to support the manufacture of Hawaii Biotech's dengue vaccine for eventual testing in clinical trials.

However, it has not yet initiated regulatory filing for its dengue vaccine formulation.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne illness, prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world.

Though dengue cases are rare in Hawai'i, about 100 million people are infected with dengue every year according to recent estimates published by the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative.

Infection by any one of the four dengue viruses can lead to dengue fever, which can progress to a life-threatening hemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome.