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HEALTH

Denmark develops first-ever vaccine against chlamydia

Researchers in Denmark have taken a major step towards developing a vaccination against the country’s most common STD.

Denmark develops first-ever vaccine against chlamydia
Stock photo: voronin-76/Depositphotos

For the first time ever, human tests of a vaccine against chlamydia have proven successful, newspaper Politiken reports.

Medical research institute SSI (Statens Serum Institut), in partnership with London’s Imperial College, tested the Danish vaccine on 35 women in the UK. The preparation worked as intended in all cases.

SSI head of department Frank Follmann is to publish an article containing the results of the research in prestigious medical academic journal The Lancet.

“This is a huge breakthrough for us. We have worked on this for 15 years and the chlamydia field is yet to have produced a vaccine for clinical trial. So this is a major breakthrough for us,” Follmann said.

“This is the first step towards hopefully moving towards production of a vaccine,” he said.

A total of 33,415 cases of chlamydia infection were registered in Denmark in 2018, an average of 91 every day. The total has increased significantly since the 1990s.

Actual figures are considered to be twice as high, due to undetected cases.

131 million people globally are infected with the STD each year.

Henrik Westh, a professor at Hvidovre Hospital’s microbiology department and specialist in risks associated with undiagnosed chlamydia, called the potential new vaccine “fantastic”.

“My assessment is that it would prevent a large number of genital infections, ectopic pregnancies and infertility. It would save the state a lot of money on expensive fertility treatment, because more people would be able to get pregnant naturally,” Westh told Politiken.

The vaccine is not likely to be available to the general public for some time, however.

Follmann said he expected it to take at least five years for the vaccine to reach the market.

READ ALSO: Sexually transmitted diseases continue to spread in Denmark

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HEALTH

Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

Denmark's government has struck a deal with four other parties to raise the point in a pregnancy from which a foetus can be aborted from 12 weeks to 18 weeks, in the first big change to Danish abortion law in 50 years.

Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

The government struck the deal with the Socialist Left Party, the Red Green Alliance, the Social Liberal Party and the Alternative party, last week with the formal announcement made on Monday  

“In terms of health, there is no evidence for the current week limit, nor is there anything to suggest that there will be significantly more or later abortions by moving the week limit,” Sophie Løhde, Denmark’s Minister of the Interior and Health, said in a press release announcing the deal.

The move follows the recommendations of Denmark’s Ethics Council, which in September 2023 proposed raising the term limit, pointing out that Denmark had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Western Europe. 

READ ALSO: 

Under the deal, the seven parties, together with the Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives, have also entered into an agreement to replace the five regional abortion bodies with a new national abortion board, which will be based in Aarhus. 

From July 1st, 2025, this new board will be able to grant permission for abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy if there are special considerations to take into account. 

The parties have also agreed to grant 15-17-year-olds the right to have an abortion without parental consent or permission from the abortion board.

Marie Bjerre, Denmark’s minister for Digitalization and Equality, said in the press release that this followed logically from the age of sexual consent, which is 15 years old in Denmark. 

“Choosing whether to have an abortion is a difficult situation, and I hope that young women would get the support of their parents. But if there is disagreement, it must ultimately be the young woman’s own decision whether she wants to be a mother,” she said. 

The bill will be tabled in parliament over the coming year with the changes then coming into force on June 1st, 2025.

The right to free abortion was introduced in Denmark in 1973. 

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