Search API
The World Health Organization (WHO) today called on countries to take urgent measures against measles outbreaks which are on the rise, with nearly nine million children having missed vaccination against the killer disease in the last two years.
Measles outbreaks are declared when the number of cases reported in an area is higher than expected.
"The strong political commitment, determination, focused and concerted efforts, and community support that marked our efforts for polio elimination are now urgently needed to stop and prevent measles outbreaks and accelerate efforts to eliminate the disease," said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, in a media release on January 13, 2023.
Measles and rubella elimination is a flagship priority program of the WHO South-East Asia Region. Both are vaccine-preventable.
Between 2014 and 2021, the Region recorded a 73% reduction in measles deaths and a 64% reduction in measles cases.
Five of the 11 countries in the South-East Asia Region – Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste - have eliminated measles, and two countries - Maldives and Sri Lanka - have eliminated rubella as well.
In addition, governments have been administering two doses of measles vaccines as part of their childhood immunization program, and some are rolling out mass vaccination campaigns.
However, as the pandemic arrived, measles vaccination coverage, which had reached an all-time high of 94% coverage for the first dose and 83% coverage for the second dose by 2019, declined to 86% and 78%, respectively, in 2021.
This inaction left about nine million children unvaccinated for measles.
And around 5.3 million children are partially vaccinated against this highly infectious disease.
"The decline in vaccine coverage, and interruptions and delays in immunization and surveillance activities due to the pandemic, leaves the Region susceptible to large outbreaks and off track for the 2023 target of measles and rubella elimination," the Regional Director added.
"All countries have been taking several initiatives to revive and resume childhood immunization coverage and surveillance activities that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic," Dr. Khetrapal Singh concluded.
The U.S. CDC says measles is highly contagious, with about 90% of people who are not protected will become following infected exposure to the measles virus.
The CDC's Top 10 Measles Outbreak Country list was updated on January 13, 2023.
International travelers can check CDC's Travel Health Notices to search for measles or other issues that may affect travelers' health. During 2022, the CDC issued various measles-related travel alerts.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today the percentage of specimens testing positive for influenza in clinical laboratories across the nation declined compared to the previous week.
As of January 13, 2023, the CDC's Week #1 Influenza Surveillance Report confirmed the number of flu hospital admissions reported in the HHS Protect system decreased compared to week #52 (Dec. 2022).
And the cumulative hospitalization rate in the FluSurv-NET system was lower than end-of-season hospitalization rates for most pre-pandemic seasons going back to 2010-2011.
The good news reported by the CDC this week was the majority of influenza viruses tested are in the same genetic subclade as and antigenically similar to the influenza viruses included in this season's influenza vaccines.
Additional good news highlighted that over 170 million flu shots had been distributed in the U.S. this flu season, eliminating access concerns.
Most clinics and pharmacies have an ample supply of various flu shots approved for the 2022-2023 season.
The CDC says ab annual flu vaccine is the best way to protect against the health risks posed by an influenza infection.
And vaccination helps prevent infection and serious outcomes in people who get vaccinated but still get sick with the flu.
This CDC advice is very relevant for children, as 79 influenza-associated pediatric fatalities have been reported during the 2022-2023 season.
Furthermore, the CDC continues to recommend that everyone ages six months and older get an annual flu vaccine as long as flu activity continues.
A recent study published by the peer-review journal Nature found that promoting the existence of vaccination incentives had no negative consequences, such as reduced follow-on vaccinations.
Announced on January 11, 2023, these researchers offered study participants in a randomized, controlled trial about $24 to receive a first COVID-19 vaccine dose within 30 days.
They found the small payment increased vaccination uptake by 4% points 30 days after the study ended.
And they found that paying people an initial incentive didn't lower the likelihood of seeking the second or third vaccine dose.
To complement their study's evidence from Sweden with evidence on the effects of large-scale incentive programs implemented by US state governments during the early stages of the pandemic.
In a pre-registered study in the USA (n = 3,062), participants randomly assigned to the incentives condition received detailed information about their state's COVID-19 vaccine incentive program.
In line with the evidence from Sweden, they found no negative impacts of being informed about incentive programs on the willingness of participants to take further doses, morals, trust in the state government, safety and efficacy perceptions of vaccines, or intentions to donate blood or to receive a flu shot.
The authors identified no adverse effects of financial incentives.
A real-world example took place in New York City in May 2021.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced incentives to encourage New Yorkers to get their COVID-19 vaccine, a free Shake Shack. The mayor 'chowed down' on a burger and fries as he introduced the promotion.
These researchers wrote, 'Despite its limitations, our study has a clear finding: offering modest financial incentives for vaccination has limited, if any, unintended negative consequences.'
'Contrary to prominent warnings in the academic literature and public debate, our work suggests that modest financial incentives for vaccination can be used without worries about grave unintended consequences.'
Disclosures: The Human Subjects Committee of the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology at the University of Zurich approved the study protocols (2022-045). Lund University provided open-access funding, and no industry conflicts were disclosed.
An innovative dual-action cell therapy engineered to eliminate tumors, train the immune system to eradicate primary tumors, and prevent cancer recurrence is progressing.
Cancer vaccines are an active area of research for many labs, but this new approach is distinct.
Scientists in Boston are now harnessing a new way to turn cancer cells into potent, anti-cancer agents.
In the latest work led by Khalid Shah, MS, Ph.D. at Brigham and Women's Hospital, investigators have developed a new cell therapy approach to eliminate established tumors and induce long-term immunity, training the immune system to prevent cancer from recurring.
The team recently announced their dual-action, cancer-killing vaccine candidate in an advanced mouse model of the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma, with promising results.
"Our team has pursued a simple idea: to take cancer cells and transform them into cancer killers and vaccines," said the study's corresponding author Khalid Shah, MS, Ph.D., director of the Center for Stem Cell and Translational Immunotherapy (CSTI) and the vice chair of research in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Brigham and faculty at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), in a press release on January 4, 2023.
"Using gene engineering, we are repurposing cancer cells to develop a therapeutic that kills tumor cells and stimulates the immune system to destroy primary tumors and prevent cancer."
Instead of using inactivated tumor cells, the team repurposes living tumor cells, which possess an unusual feature.
Like homing pigeons returning to roost, living tumor cells will travel long distances across the brain to return to the site of their fellow tumor cells. Taking advantage of this unique property, Shah's team engineered living tumor cells using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 and repurposed them to release tumor cell-killing agents.
In addition, the engineered tumor cells were designed to express factors that would make them easy for the immune system to spot, tag, and remember, priming the immune system for a long-term anti-tumor response.
The team tested their repurposed CRISPR-enhanced and reverse-engineered therapeutic tumor cells (ThTC) in different mice strains.
Shah's team also built a two-layered safety switch into the cancer cell, which, when activated, eradicates ThTCs if needed.
This dual-action cell therapy was found safe, applicable, and efficacious in these models, suggesting a roadmap toward therapy.
While further testing and development are needed, Shah's team specifically chose this model and used human cells to smooth the path of translating their findings for patient settings.
"Throughout all of the work that we do in the Center, even when it is highly technical, we never lose sight of the patient," added Shah.
"Our goal is to take an innovative but translatable approach to develop a therapeutic, cancer-killing vaccine that ultimately will have a lasting impact in medicine."
Shah and colleagues note that this therapeutic strategy applies to a broader range of solid tumors and that further investigations of its applications are warranted.
The study's findings are published in Science Translational Medicine on Jan. 4, 2023. Disclosures: Shah owns equity in and is a member of the Board of Directors of AMASA Therapeutics, a company developing stem cell-based therapies for cancer. This work was supported by the U.S. NIH (grant R01-NS121096).
According to recent data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza vaccine distribution in the United States (U.S.) is approaching a similar amount compared to the last flu season.
Private manufacturers produce flu vaccines in the U.S., so yearly supply depends on manufacturer production.
As of December 31, 2022, the CDC confirmed 170.71 million influenza vaccines had been distributed.
During the 2021-2022 season, flu activity began to increase in November and remained elevated until mid-June, with two waves of influenza A(H3N2) virus activity occurring; the first peaked in late December 2021 and the second in April 2022.
Last flu season, vaccine manufacturers distributed 179.4 million doses of flu vaccine to the U.S. market as of February 25, 2022.
For the 2020-2021 flu season, 193.8 million doses were distributed in the U.S. as of February 26, 2021, the highest number of doses in a single flu season.
As each flu season ends, the CDC and vaccine producers update their vaccine offerings for the next season, highlighted at this link.
The CDC says getting an annual flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from influenza.
Flu vaccination is essential if you are at a higher risk of developing severe complications. When you get vaccinated, you reduce your risk of getting sick and possibly being hospitalized or dying from influenza.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it joins the Republic of Uganda and the global public health community in marking the end of the Sudan Ebolavirus outbreak in Uganda.
Forty-two days, or two incubation periods, have passed since the last case of Sudan Ebola was reported in 2022, marking the official end of the fifth outbreak in Uganda, which had started in September.
In addition, the CDC confirmed entry screening and public health monitoring of travelers to the United States who have been in Uganda in the last 21 days would end on January 11, 2023.
The U.K. also launched airport screening for Ebola in November 2022.
“I commend the Government of Uganda, local health workers, and global public health partners who worked to end the country’s Ebola outbreak,” said CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., in a press release.
“I also want to thank the CDC staff on the front lines in Uganda and worldwide who worked countless hours to accelerate an end to the outbreak.”
The CDC confirmed it would continue supporting the Ugandan Ministry of Health in Ebola surveillance, infection prevention and control, and response activities to help ensure rapid detection and response to future cases and outbreaks.
