“A vaccine for Nipah virus, a highly deadly bat-borne disease with no existing treatments, has entered phase 2 clinical trials for the first time,” notes The Doomslayer.
The Telegraph reports:
An Oxford-designed vaccine for Nipah virus has launched phase two trials, in a ‘major milestone’ for efforts to curb the deadly pathogen…
The disease – which inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Contagion – is rare but extremely deadly, with a fatality rate as high as 75 per cent. The World Health Organization considers it a priority pathogen for research, as no vaccines or treatments currently exist to tackle it.
This month a jab [vaccine] developed by the University of Oxford…became the first Nipah vaccine candidate to enter phase two clinical trials to assess safety and the immune response.
It is also the first vaccine to be trialled in a region directly affected by the virus. Bangladesh has sporadic outbreaks every year, with Nipah mostly spreading from fruit bats to people via contaminated raw date palm sap – although some human-to-human transmission through bodily fluids is also possible.
The disease was first detected in Malaysia in 1998, when it triggered a major outbreak among pig farmers. Since then, 754 known cases have been diagnosed, including 435 deaths – including 241 in Bangladesh, the worst hit country, where the fatality rate is 71 per cent.
Scientists have also developed a rabies vaccine for vampire bats that spreads through grooming: “The vaccine is delivered via a gel applied to one bat’s fur. When others groom it, they ingest the gel and gain immunity. Laboratory studies show this method could effectively protect entire colonies.”
22 nations have eliminated measles and rubella by vaccinating their populations at rates of over 90%. “Measles vaccination has saved 94 million lives globally since 1974. Of those, 92 million were children”, says Our World in Data.
A vaccine to save koalas from chlamydia was recently approved. That disease has killed tens of thousands of koalas.
Denmark is close to wiping out leading cancer-causing HPV strains through vaccination.
