Coronavirus Breaking News

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, has marked 32 districts at risk of the Nipah virus infection and has identified ten cases in 2023.

According to local media on February 4, 2023, the Dhaka North City Corporation's hospital in Mohakhali has also been instructed to prepare 20 beds for treating Nipah virus patients.

"This is because anywhere a Nipah virus patient is also likely to have bats and palm sap. Therefore, all parts of the country are vulnerable to the Nipah virus, but the districts where it has been detected are advised to take extra precautions."

The World Health Organization says Nipah virus infection is a zoonotic illness transmitted from animals, through contaminated food, or from person to person.

As of February 5, 2023, the U.S. FDA has not approved a Nipah virus preventive vaccine candidate.

However, The Lancet published results from a vaccine candidate study in December 2022 that concluded the VSV-NiVG vaccine offers broad protection against NiV disease. 

The U.S. CDC does suggest various vaccinations, including for dengue, before visiting Bangladesh in 2023.

Public Health recently announced it was extending negative COVID-19 test requirements for arriving air travelers from the Peoples' Republic of China. 

Initially announced in early January 2023, this extension is scheduled to be a requirement until April 5, 2023.

This extension applies to travel to Canada through connecting flights from other countries, for example, if your flight itinerary starts in China and includes a connecting flight from Germany to Canada.

And those transiting through Canada with onward travel to another country.

If Canada isn't your final destination, also check the travel and testing requirements for your final destination.

However, this doesn't apply to travelers transiting through China, Hong Kong, or Macao, who are there for 24 hours or less.

For example, if your flight itinerary starts in Australia and includes a connecting flight in China before continuing to Canada, and if you are in China for 24 hours or less before the connecting flight to Canada is initially scheduled to depart.

And travelers must keep the proof of their test result until leaving the airport in Canada.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an Alert - Level 2, Practice Enhanced Precautions, with similar requirements, on January 5, 2023.

The end of the Mosaico HIV vaccine trial in January 2023 must lead to a continued drive to innovate and an urgency to ensure that proven HIV prevention and treatment options reach all who need them stated UNAIDS.

Although no safety concerns were flagged during the HPX3002/HVTN706 clinical trial, it was discontinued after an independent review found no evidence of reduced risk of HIV infection among vaccinated participants.

The study evaluated an investigational vaccine regimen containing a mosaic-based adenovirus serotype 26 vector (Ad26.Mos4.HIV) administered during four vaccination visits over one year. In addition, a mix of soluble proteins (Clade C/Mosaic gp140, adjuvanted with aluminum phosphate) was also administered at visits three and four.

“The disappointment of the vaccine trial further underlines the importance of rolling out available HIV treatment and prevention innovations,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in a press release on January 23, 2023.

“The search for a vaccine must continue, but it’s important to remember that despite this setback, the world can still end AIDS by 2030 by delivering all the proven prevention and treatment options to all the people who need them.

Rapid progress against the HIV pandemic is possible if existing prevention and treatment options are made available by sharing technologies, expanding provision, and tackling barriers to access.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths. 

The U.S. White House National Mpox Response recently noted that approximately 40% of people diagnosed with mpox also had HIV. In 2022, about one million people were vaccinated against Mpox in the USA.

As of February 3, 2023, HIV vaccine candidates continue clinical research studies.

According to reporting by Fierce Biotech, Merck Inc. confirmed on February 2, 2023, that it had discontinued the chikungunya vaccine candidate development program as part of a "routine pipeline prioritization."

While the vaccine candidate completed a phase 2 clinical trial, the study was suspended "due to a clinical stock recovery action," meaning it did not reach its original participant enrollment goal.

Merck's contender V184 was acquired through a $366 million takeover of Themis Inc. in 2020.

The chikungunya vaccine development race is led by Valneva SE, which completed the rolling submission of the VLA1553 vaccine's Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2022.

As of February 3, 2023, the FDA has not approved any chikungunya vaccine candidates.

This mosquito-transmitted disease remains a public health risk.

The Pan American Health Organization reported that in 2022, 87 fatalities were associated with chikungunya infections in the Americas last year.

Other chikungunya vaccine candidate news is posted at Vax-Before-Travel.com.

A biotechnology company today announced positive results from a limited clinical trial evaluating a DNA vaccine candidate as a booster targeting the Zaire Ebolavirus.

This placebo-controlled Phase, 1b trial assesses its safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity in healthy adult participants who previously received a single injection of Merck's Ervebo®, a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus.

In the trial, INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s INO-4201 vaccine candidate was well-tolerated and boosted humoral responses in 100% (36 of 36) of study participants.

INO-4201 is a DNA vaccine targeting Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein, designed to prevent ZEBOV infection. It encodes for a synthetic consensus antigen encompassing ZEBOV genetic variability from various outbreak strains to broaden immune coverage for divergent ZEBOV virus variants.

The participants were dosed with 1 mg of INO-4201 injected intradermally, followed by electroporation using our investigational proprietary smart device, CELLECTRA®.

Dr. Angela Huttner, MD, Infectious Disease Consultant, Geneva University Hospitals, and the study's lead investigator, commented in a press release on February 2, 2023, "INO-4201 was well-tolerated and all treated participants responded to the booster vaccine."

"These are encouraging results since our participants were initially vaccinated with Ervebo three to seven years ago."

"We remain grateful to our participants for their critical role in developing this vaccine candidate, which we hope will be a key player in future Ebola Virus Disease prevention."

This news is essential since recent research suggests dormant Ebola virus in a previously infected survivor could re-emerge up to nearly five years later and again allow human-to-human transmission Keita et al. Nature (Sept. 15, 2021).

The Ebola virus is classified as a Category A Priority Pathogen by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This designation indicates a national security risk.

The Ebola virus family includes four virus species that cause periodic outbreaks of a highly contagious and lethal human infectious disease – called Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The virus is transmitted from wild animals to people and then easily spreads via human-to-human transmission.

Ebola outbreak news from 2022 and 2023 are posted at Vax-Before-Travel.com/Ebola.

The trial was spearheaded by Global Urgent and Advanced Research and Development, sponsored by Geneva University Hospitals, and funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

INOVIO is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing DNA medicines. For more information, visit www.inovio.com.

According to reporting by The Hill, the public health emergency (PHE) for the mpox outbreak that began in May 2022 has been discontinued as of January 31, 2023. 

The U.S. administration announced in December 2022 that it was not expecting to renew the PHE for Mpox, which was initially declared in August 2022 and renewed in November.

During the outbreak in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 30,093 cases and 26 related fatalities.

And in Europe, the five countries reporting the most Mpox cases since the start of the outbreak are Spain (7,528), France (4,127), Germany (3,676), Netherlands (1,260), and Italy (954).

Furthermore, the CDC confirmed about one million first and second doses of Bavarian Nordic's JYNNEOS® (MVA-BN) vaccine had been administered during the emergency.

The CDC says that two doses of the U.S. FDA-approved vaccine provide the best protection (~70%), regardless of how the vaccine was administered.

One dose offers less than 40% protection from this sexually transmitted disease.

Other outbreak news is posted at MonkeypoxToday.com.

Bangladesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque recently confirmed to local media eight people were infected with the Nipah virus in 2023. Of them, five people died.

".... drinking raw date juice, contaminated by bats carrying Nipah virus. And some Nipah virus-infected people can transmit the disease.

The minister said people should avoid eating fruits that are half eaten by birds and urged people not to drink raw date juice.

In 2022, Bangladesh reported three Nipah virus cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Nipah virus infection is a zoonotic illness transmitted to people from animals and can also be transmitted through contaminated food or directly from person-to-person.

In infected people, it causes a range of illnesses.

During the first recognized outbreak in Malaysia and Singapore in 1999, most human infections resulted from direct contact with sick pigs or their contaminated tissues.

This outbreak resulted in nearly 300 human cases and more than 100 related fatalities.

In subsequent outbreaks in Bangladesh and India, consuming fruits or fruit products (such as raw date palm juice) contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats was the most likely source of infection.

As of January 31, 2023, no Nipah virus vaccines are available, says the U.S. CDC.

The CDC does recommend several vaccinations, such as dengue, before visiting Bangladesh in 2023.