#Ebola Vaccine Hailed As'Game Changer'In Fight Against The Virus Doctors Without Borders is calling it a"champagne moment."
"In a small trial, an experimental vaccine protected 100 percent of participants who were at high risk for the virus
vaccine or medicine,"says Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general for health systems and innovation at the World health organization,
"The vaccine, called rvsv-ZEBOV, was developed by the Public health Agency of Canada. Previous studies showed it was safe.
The vaccine stops Ebola in its tracks, Kieny says.""When we talked with our colleagues who are responding to Ebola cases,
And we vaccinate, and the cases seem to disappear.'"'"In fact, there are so few cases in Guinea right
now that Kieny and her team couldn't use the standard method for testing a vaccine.
The strategy uses what's called ring vaccination. When a case crops up, the team rushes to scene andgives the vaccine to people who are close to the sick person those who are at high risk of getting the virus."So this can be the neighbors, the family, the coworkers,
"Kieny says.""This forms what is called a ring. These are the people that form the community around the case."
000 people in these so-called rings who were eligible for vaccination. They divided them up into two groups.
About half got vaccinated immediately, and the others had to wait three weeks for the shot.
In the group that got the vaccine immediately, no one got Ebola.""No cases at all. Zero,"Kieny says."
The problem is there were only 16 cases of Ebola in the group that didn't get the vaccine immediately.
That's way too small of a number to say how well the vaccine works,
But statistical analyses suggest the vaccine's efficacy is at least 70 percent, Kieny says which is still good enough to stop the spread of the disease."
preliminary results of this vaccine trial from Guinea,"says Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University, who once led vaccine development at the U s. Food and Drug Administration.
More data are needed to nail down the vaccine's efficacy. And there were a few issues with the design of the experiment that could have skewed the results."
"the strength of the difference between the groups that were vaccinated early and late suggests strongly to me that this vaccine is working. i
#The Future Of Cardiology Will be shown In 3-D How can you tell the difference between a good surgeon and an exceptional one?
#Highly-Effective Ebola Vaccine Could Stymie Future Outbreaks Over 27,000 cases and 11561 deaths. The statistics that tell the story of the most recent Ebola outbreak are stark,
That the conclusion of a study on an Ebola vaccine developed in a 10-month sprint by the Public health Agency of Canada
000 individuals in Guinea, are welcome news. Kimberley Steeds, an Ebola vaccine trial team member, in the Ebola vaccine laboratory, Donka Hospital in Conakry,
The vaccine is consists of a modified version of a different virus called VSV, which infects cows
The trials employed the same strategy used to contain smallpox called ing vaccination. When a person comes down with the disease,
and vaccinate anyone likely to come in contact with the patient, creating a ring of protection that hopefully keeps the virus contained
The new study evaluated the vaccine effectiveness by dividing recipients into two randomly assigned groups.
Half of the study participants received the vaccine as soon as one person they had been in contact withhether it was a relative, patient,
The other half received the vaccine after a delay of three weeks. In the 2, 000 subjects receiving the immediate vaccination treatment, not one person contracted Ebola.
Based on these results, the immediate vaccination regimen was offered to all participants starting on July 26. Even with the vaccine apparent efficacy, the trial will continue so researchers can gather more information to license the vaccine for widespread use.
The study was orchestrated by a partnership including THE WHO, the Ministry of Health of Guinea Doctors Without Borders,
and many others, comprising a monumental scientific and logistical effort. Here James Gallagher, reporting for the BBC:
The sheer scale of the 2014-15 outbreak led to an unprecedented push on vaccines and a decade work has been condensed into around 10 months.
but the vaccine trials offer, for the first time, hope that such grim statistics will never be seen again n
Flu vaccines effectively give your immune system a antedposter based on researchersbest predictions for the mutation that year.
This work suggests that future flu vaccines could include this new kind of antibody that would be able to fight the most powerful types of influenza viruses
That might make for stronger flu vaccines --and possibly reduce the shot's frequency to once every few years e
#New Ebola Vaccine Shows 100 Percent Effectiveness In Early Tests At this time last summer, the horrific and often fatal disease Ebola was ravaging West Africa in the deadliest outbreak
But in an extremely promising medical advance, scientists are now saying that an experimental Ebola vaccine with 100 percent effectiveness has been developed.
A paper published today in The british medical journal Lancet reports that the vaccine which has been tested in Guinea
since March 2015, has shown extraordinary results so far, with 4, 123 people voluntarily vaccinated and all safe from the disease.
effective in vaccinated individuals. his is an extremely promising development, said Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World health organization (WHO),
what known as a ing vaccination strategyto test the vaccine efficacy. This involves inoculating all known contacts of an infected individual,
more conclusive evidence is necessary to prove the vaccine ability to protect larger populations from the disease, according to THE WHO. This trait,
known as erd immunity, is especially vital in order for the vaccine to be truly successful. The trial faced some obstacles in the beginning,
because volunteers knew they were receiving the actual vaccine. This raised a number of questions on ethical and scientific grounds,
It is expected that this vaccine will likely be used to stop future outbreaks rather than vaccinate whole populations.
The speed and efficiency with which this vaccine was developed and tested in the midst of a global medical emergency is unparalleled.
particularly those that store vaccines and other medical products. Published in The Lancet. This study was funded by a gift from the Abundance Foundation (Stephen Kahn.
#Toward A Universal Flu Vaccine Flu vaccines can be shot a in the dark-they must be given yearly
New research suggests it may be possible to harness a previously unknown mechanism within the immune system to create more effective and efficient vaccines against this ever-mutating virus. In a Cell paper,
"While the conventional flu vaccine protects only against specific strains, usually three of them, our experiments show that by including modified antibodies within the vaccine it may be possible to elicit broad protection against many strains simultaneously,
"says senior study author Jeffrey Ravetch, professor of Molecular genetics and Immunology at Rockefeller University.""We believe these results may represent a preliminary step toward a universal flu vaccine,
one that is effective against a broad range of the flu viruses."It was known already that chemical modifications to antibodies'Fc region altered their interactions with immune cells,
The virus makes for a difficult target for vaccines because its strains are so diverse,
most flu vaccines in the United states are formulated to target a total of three or four viral strains:
A universal flu vaccine has become something of a holy grail, and a number of strategies have been proposed to create it.
These regions go on form complexes with vaccine antigens, which then modulate the evolving vaccine response.
First, the researchers vaccinated healthy volunteers with a seasonal flu vaccine containing an inactivated strain of the H1n1 virus. They then tracked the volunteers'immune responses via blood samples,
keeping an eye out for chemical modifications to antibodies against the hemagglutinin protein. About seven days after the vaccination, they saw a spike in sialylated antibodies, meaning sialic acid,
an important signaling molecule, had been added at a specific spot on the Fc region. The greater the sialylation
the better a person's response to the vaccine. To tease apart how this chemical modification improves the immune response,
The result of the higher affinity was broad protection against H1 subtype influenza viruses. The researchers then used this knowledge to improve the vaccine itself.
They modified the H1n1 vaccine so it contained not only protein from the virus itself, but also sialylated antibodies against that protein."
which a vaccine containing sialylated antibodies elicits broadly protective antibodies, could potentially be harnessed to reduce the tremendous morbidity
"We are now looking into applying this strategy toward improving existing vaccines; ideally, this would result in a vaccine that provides life long immunity against flu infections. s
#Human Antibody Blocks Dengue virus In Mice Researchers have discovered that a human antibody specific to dengue virus serotype 2,
--and they suggest that the site where 2d22 binds to the virus could represent a potential vaccine target.
and there is currently no protective vaccine available. Recent phase 3 clinical trials of a potential vaccine candidate showed poor efficacy,
especially against dengue virus serotype 2. Guntur Fibriansah and colleagues found that 2d22 protects mice against dengue virus serotype 2,
Vaccines and health clinics can be up and running earlier and any necessary travelling restrictions can be put in place before the situation worsens."
#New Ebola vaccine is 100%successful in Guinea clinical trials A new single-dose vaccine has been shown to be 100 percent effective against Ebola after just one week.
Known as VSV-ZEBOV, the vaccine is now going through further trials in younger patients, and if all goes to plan could become the first licensed vaccine against Ebola.
As of right now around 28,000 people in Guinea, Sierra leone and Libera have been infected with Ebola,
A second study group of 3, 528 people were injected with the vaccine three weeks after they'd potentially been exposed to Ebola.
"Indeed, no vaccinee developed symptoms more than six days after vaccination, irrespective of whether vaccination was delayed immediate
the international team of researchers stopped waiting to vaccinate those at high-risk of infection.""The initial results of the study show that the vaccine can effectively contain the further spread of the Ebola virus,"the University of Bern in Switzerland,
which was involved in the research, wrote in a statement.""We believe that the world is on the verge of an efficacious Ebola vaccine,
"World Health Organisation (WHO) vaccine expert Marie Paule Kieny told reporters at a media briefing announcing the results on Friday.
The trial, which was supported by the drug firm Merck, THE WHO and the Canadian, Norwegian and Guinean governments, is now continuing in children between the ages of 13 and 17.
#WHO grants approval for safe effective meningitis A vaccine for infants The World health organization (WHO) has opened the door to routine immunization of infants in Sub-saharan africa by approving for use an innovative and affordable vaccine that has all but rid the meningitis belt of a major cause
The announcement was made today by the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP)--a partnership between the global health nonprofit PATH and WHO--and Serum institute of india Ltd (SIIL),
which manufactures the Menafrivac vaccine.""Initial mass vaccination campaigns with Menafrivac have been highly effective in reducing the number of meningitis A cases,
"said Dr. Marie-Pierre Préziosi, director of MVP.""But epidemics will return when rising numbers of unprotected newborns become a larger proportion of the total population over time.
5 g dose of the meningitis A vaccine meets international standards of quality, safety, and efficacy and can
The only existing vaccine was insufficient to break the cycle. Protection at an affordable price In 2004, MVP partnered with SIIL to develop an affordable, tailor-made vaccine for use against meningitis A in Sub-saharan africa.
Menafrivac was developed in record time at less than 1 tenth the cost of a typical new vaccine. Since campaigns started in 2010,
Menafrivac has been administered to over 215 million people in 15 countries of the African meningitis belt:
"Developing the Menafrivac vaccine fit exactly Serum's ingrained philosophy of bringing down prices of vaccines
"One year after large-scale vaccine introduction in late 2010, for example, experience from Burkina faso provided early evidence that mass vaccination was associated with a significantly reduced risk of meningitis in the targeted population,
Findings were confirmed in a major way in Chad in 2012 where researchers reported a dramatic reduction in transmission and incidence of meningitis A a drop of more than 90 percent following vaccination.
Support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the United nations children's fund (UNICEF; PATH; WHO; and national governments has been crucial for mass vaccination campaigns that are due to continue until 2016 to cover at-risk populations in all 26 countries where disease burden from meningitis A is greatest.
From mass campaigns to routine immunizations In parallel to the large-scale vaccination campaigns, clinical studies were designed
and conducted to determine the safety, immunogenicity, and optimal dosage and immunization schedule for administering Menafrivac to infants and toddlers alongside other routine childhood vaccines in African meningitis belt countries.
Results from two infant clinical studies in Ghana and Mali and vaccine introduction impact data were presented to THE WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) in October 2014
and these SAGE experts concluded that a one-dose schedule at 9 months of age or older was recommended to achieve sustainable disease control following the initial mass campaigns in 1-29 year olds.
Specifically, THE WHO prequalification that was announced today allows United nations procurement agencies to purchase the vaccine for use in routine immunization programs in meningitis-belt countries
while mass vaccination campaigns will continue in remaining countries. Created in June 2001 with the goal of eliminating epidemic meningitis as a public health problem in Sub-saharan africa,
Menafrivac was the first vaccine developed outside"traditional pharma, "and the only vaccine developed specifically for people in Africa."
"With Menafrivac, we created a revolutionary new model for vaccine development and now we stand on the brink of protecting an entire generation,
and those to come, from a devastating disease, "said Dr. Kathy Neuzil, director of Vaccine Access and Delivery at PATH."
"Our efforts began with a request by African leaders to address a major health challenge affecting hundreds of millions of people,
effective vaccine could be developed and deployed across multiple countries at a price that was sustainable.""
""The benefits of childhood immunization last a lifetime and the Menafrivac vaccine is one of the greatest success stories that shows
"Prequalification of the Menafrivac vaccine for infants clears the way for the routine immunization of every child before his
""We are more than halfway through with introducing the vaccine in meningitis-belt countries, and the first introductions have been a stunning success,
"said Dr. Jeanmarie Okwo-Bele, director of THE WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.""But we cannot yet declare a win on meningitis epidemics in Sub-saharan africa.
and introduce the vaccine in the Expanded Programme on Immunization. Then and only then will we win the battle against meningitis. a
#New approach may lead to inhalable vaccines for influenza pneumonia The work led by Cathy Fromen
In contrast negatively charged particles of the same composition led to weaker and in some cases undetectable immune responses suggesting that particle charge is an important consideration for pulmonary vaccination.
The findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also have broad public health implications for improving the accessibility of vaccines.
An inhalable vaccine may eliminate the need for refrigeration which can not only improve shelf life but also enable distribution of vaccines to low-resource areas including many developing countries where there is significant need for better access to vaccines s
#Study pinpoints autism-linked protein for sculpting brain connections A new study by Duke researchers provides a close up of synapse refinement
But what we found was that in most cases including the reaction to a standard influenza vaccine
or toxic exposures vaccinations diet and dental hygiene--trumped heritable ones when it came to accounting for differences within a pair of twins.
Davis and his associates also observed considerable environmental influence over the quantities of antibodies produced in members of twin pairs who had been vaccinated for influenza in a separate Stanford investigation directed by study co-author Cornelia Dekker MD professor of pediatric infectious disease
and medical director of the Stanford-Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Vaccine Program. While many previous studies have suggested a powerful genetic component in vaccine responsiveness Davis noted that those studies typically were performed in very young children who had undergone not yet the decades of environmental exposure that appears to reshape the immune system over time.
In a striking example of the immune system's plasticity the Stanford scientists found that the presence
Cancer researchers have been interested in these proteins as markers for cancer and as potential targets for therapeutic cancer vaccines."
"We have designed a vaccine-style treatment or'immunotherapy'specifically for individuals carrying high-risk rheumatoid arthritis genes and specific rheumatoid arthritis antibodies, called anti-CCP."
clinically-practical vaccine technology that could deliver similar outcomes for patients. Professor Thomas is working on a delivery technology with Dendright Pty Ltd (a Uniquest start-up company) in collaboration Janssen Biotech Inc,
either through infection or through vaccination. Elledge estimates it would take about 2-3 days to process 100 samples,
Their findings on viral epitopes may also have important implications for vaccine design. Elledge says the approach his team has developed is limited not to antiviral antibodies.
#Protein discovery fuels redesign of mosquito-based malaria vaccine A promising type of vaccine designed to eradicate malaria by blocking parasite transmission could be a step closer,
Malaria transmission-blocking vaccines are designed to prevent the spread of malaria by interrupting parasite transmission.
Vaccinated individuals in malaria-endemic countries produce antibodies to Anapn1. During routine disease transmission, when these same immunised individuals become infected with malaria parasites,
The Anapn1 protein is a leading candidate for a mosquito-based malaria transmission-blocking vaccine that is being developed by Dr Dinglasan."
"This type of vaccine won't boost people's immunity to malaria, but instead it will provide a delayed benefit to the individual by protecting the entire community from parasite transmission,
Dr Dinglasan said as a vaccine antigen, Anapn1 prompts people to make antibodies; however only some of these antibodies block parasite transmission,
To further improve vaccine immunogenicity at the preclinical stage, we need to immuno-focus the antibody response to only the critical,
when infected by the virus. There is a safe and effective vaccine available, the researchers say,
if the vaccine were used in Nepal during monsoon season, which runs from July to September.
that the Nepalese Ministry of Health should initiate a request for the vaccine and build a stockpile;
and develop targeted deployment strategies for the use of the vaccine, based on identification of high-risk populations and the available organizational capacity for safe implementation and monitoring of outcomes."
"These findings now explain why it is difficult to develop vaccines against tuberculosis, "said Dr. Das."
"The immune cells activated by the vaccine agent may not be able to reach the hypoxic site of bone marrow to target these"wolfs-in-stem-cell-clothing."
""The hope for a definitive cure and an effective vaccine has been frustrated by HIV's endless propensity to subvert the host's defences
#Scientists successfully test immunogen a component for potential HIV vaccine Team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute, INTERNATIONAL AIDS Vaccine Initiative and The Rockefeller University have shown successfully that an experimental vaccine candidate
In fact, scientists believe that findings of the study could provide key information for the development of an effective AIDS vaccine.
may become one of the parts of first successful HIV vaccine. Image credit: scripps. eduefforts to create effective vaccine against HIV so far have been virtually fruitless.
However, scientists already describe results of this latest research as spectacular. The long-term goal of the research is to develop a vaccine that prompts the body to produce antibodies that bind to HIV
and prevent infection and current experiments with mice models showed promising results. Many vaccines for other diseases use a dead
or inactive version of the disease-causing microbe itself to trigger antibody production. However, this simple approach does not work with HIV immunizations with ativehiv proteins are ineffective in triggering an effective immune response
This makes HIV vaccine a particularly challenging task for scientists, which explains why science still has produced not an effective one.
This challenge did not make scientists believe that AIDS vaccine is impossible. Instead they figured out that it has to consist of a series of related,
Professor David Nemazee evaluated results like that he vaccine appears to work well in our mouse model to rimethe antibody response In another research scientists used the same immunogen in a slightly different mouse model,
which showed promising results As well as scientists have taken approach to collect a variety of different immunogens to develop a united HIV vaccine,
HIV vaccine would be a major breakthrough at fight against AIDS, as it still is arguably the biggest threat to human population.
vaccine could be one of the greatest scientific achievements of the century. Source: Scripp s
Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments specifically for Marburg infections. The findings were published online ahead of print today in the journal Plos Pathogens.
The high cost of creating independent vaccines or treatments for each of the different viruses in this family necessitates intelligent design of immunogens (antibody-inducing molecules).
#HIV vaccine: Pushing the Envelope A new study led by scientists at Harvard Medical school and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center demonstrates that a heterologous prime-boost HIV-1 vaccine regimen protected 50 percent of vaccinated nonhuman primates against challenges with the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV),
a virus similar to HIV that infects nonhuman primates. Published in the July 2 online edition of Science, these new findings provide a new strategy for the clinical development of this novel HIV-1 vaccine candidate. espite the urgent need for a safe and effective
global HIV-1 vaccine, only four vaccine concepts have been evaluated for protective efficacy in humans over the past 30 years,
said lead author Dan Barouch, HMS professor of medicine and director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess. e are encouraged very by the results of this latest preclinical HIV-1 vaccine study
and believe the findings may lead to a clear path forward for evaluating this HIV vaccine candidate in humans.
In this work, nonhuman primates were given first a dose of adenovirus serotype 26 vectored vaccine to rimethe immune system to mount an antibody response
and then received a oostwith a purified HIV envelope protein (the surface protein of HIV),
which enhances the immune system over time. Adenovirus 26 is responsible for the common cold and is engineered to serve as a carrier,
The study results showed that the prime-boost vaccine regimen provided complete protection in half of the vaccinated nonhuman primates against a series of six repeated challenges with SIV. ur previous studies
of viral vector-based HIV-1 vaccine candidates showed much lower levels of protection against SIV,
Based on these preclinical data, the HIV-1 version of this vaccine regimen is now being evaluated in an ongoing international clinical study sponsored by Crucell Holland BV
the definitive solution to this epidemic will likely be said a vaccine Barouch. hese new findings represent an important step forward. s
#Could dissolvable microneedles replace injected vaccines? The microneedle patch can dissolve in the skin, delivering the flu vaccine painlessly.
New vaccine patch protects against flu in humansflu vaccines delivered using microneedles that dissolve in the skin can protect people against infection even better than the standard needle-delivered vaccine,
according to new research published in Biomaterials. The authors of the study, from Osaka University in Japan, say their dissolvable patch the only vaccination system of its kind could make vaccination easier, safer and less painful.
According to the World health organization, immunization prevents an estimated 2-3 million deaths every year. The continued threat of pandemics such as H1n1 swine flu and emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola makes vaccine development and mass vaccination a priority for global healthcare.
Most vaccines are injected under the skin or into the muscle using needles. While this is an effective delivery method,
it requires medical personnel with technical skills and brings the risk of needle-related diseases and injuries.
where healthcare resources are limited. ur novel transcutaneous vaccination using a dissolving microneedle patch is the only application vaccination system that is readily adaptable for widespread practical use,
we believe it will be particularly effective in supporting vaccination in developing countries. he new microneedle patch Microhyala is dissolvable in water.
taking the vaccine with them. The researchers compared the new system to traditional needle delivery by vaccinating two groups of people against three strains of influenza:
A/H1n1, A/H3n2 and B. None of the subjects had a bad reaction to the vaccine,
people given the vaccine using the microneedles had an immune reaction that was equal to or stronger than those given the vaccine by injection. e were excited to see that our new microneedle patch is
just as effective as the needle-delivered flu vaccines, and in some cases even more effective, said Professor Nakagawa.
Previous research has evaluated the use of microneedles made of silicon or metal, but they were shown not to be safe.
we think it could bring about a major change in the way we administer vaccines globally, said Professor Nakagawa.
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