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The World Health Organization (WHO) reported this week respiratory syncytial virus RSV activity was generally low worldwide except in Australia and a few countries in the Region of the Americas.
And as of June 26, 2023, RSV activity increased in a few tropical and temperate South American countries.
Furthermore, in the United Kingdom, the RSV detection rate among children under five years of age remained at a low level in June 2023.
In the U.S., Florida's RSV season is longer than the rest of the country, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For this reason, Florida is a good bellwether state for the forthcoming RSV season.
According to the Florida Department of Health, RSV activity was low in all five regions, with no outbreaks but an increased positivity rate as of June 24, 2023.
From a prevention perspective, the CDC approved RSV vaccines for people ages 60 and older, using shared Clinical Decision-Making.
This means these individuals may receive a single dose of the RSV vaccine based on discussions with their healthcare provider about whether RSV vaccination is right for them.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) today announced the current C.D.C. Director adopted the 2023-2024 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) recommendations on annual influenza (flu) vaccination for everyone six months and older in the U.S.
As of June 29, 2023, there are minor changes to the ACIP's flu shot recommendations, including, but not limited to, an acknowledgment of the updated flu vaccine composition for the 2023-2024 flu season.
And a change in the recommendations for vaccination of people with egg allergies.
Flu vaccination has many benefits. It has been shown to reduce the risk of getting sick with the flu and also to reduce the risk of more serious flu outcomes that can result in hospitalization or even death, says the CDC.
Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H.'s adoption of the ACIP recommendations makes them official C.D.C. policy. Providers should begin vaccinating patients according to C.D.C.'s recommended timing, which has not changed for the 2023-2023 influenza season in the U.S.
The C.D.C. says September and October are the best times for most people to get vaccinated.
Furthermore, flu vaccination in July and August is not recommended for most people, but there are several considerations for specific groups.
While influenza viruses are detected year-round, the exact timing and duration of flu seasons vary by country, says the World Health Organization (WHO). What happens in the Southern Hemisphere does not necessarily predict what will happen in the Northern Hemisphere, which includes the U.S.
The WHO recently published Influenza Update N° 448, which confirmed influenza detections remained low globally. Still, in the southern hemisphere, some countries reported variable changes in influenza detections in recent weeks, while detections in others seemed to have peaked as of June 26, 2023.
Additionally, Precision Vaccinations published an updated list of influenza vaccines and candidates conducting clinical trials.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today published an updated COVID-19 data dashboard indicating COVID-19 cases and related fatalities continue to decrease in most WHO Regions.
As of June 28, 2023, the African region reported a slight increase in COVID-19 fatalities but a 26% decrease in cases, while the other five WHO regions reported declines in both cases and deaths.
At the regional level, the number of newly reported 28-day cases decreased across the South East Asia Region (-78%), the Eastern Mediterranean Region (-71%), the Region of the Americas (-70%), the European Region (-46%), and the Western Pacific Region (-33%).
As of June 29, 2023, various COVID-19 vaccines remain available in most countries and may be required to enter some countries.
The MedAfrica Times recently reported that the Republic of Brazil donated 80 thousand vaccines against HPV and yellow fever to Cabo Verde.
The Cape Verdean Ministry of Health announced on June 27, 2023, 50 thousand doses of HPV and 30 thousand doses of yellow fever arrived in Praia.
"The yellow fever vaccine is used to prevent yellow fever, a disease caused by an arbovirus. It is recommended for prevention in endemic areas or for travelers", said this article.
The U.S. CDC recently wrote that no (health) notices are currently in effect for Cape Verde.
However, the CDC suggests prospective visitors to Cape Verde speak with a healthcare provider regarding travel vaccinations, such as yellow fever and medicines.
Located 900 miles south of the Canary Islands and 350 miles from the African mainland, Cape Verde's nine inhabited islands offer vacationers many relaxing options.
Cabo Verde has witnessed significant economic progress since 1990, driven in large part by the rapid development of tourism (25% of GDP).
And remember to pack essential health supplies in case of travel delays, says the CDC.
The U.S. Department of State recently published an updated Level 2 Travel Advisory for the Republic of Maldives, a nation located in the Indian Ocean.
On June 22, 2023, the State Department confirmed visitors to the Maldives should exercise increased caution due to civil unrest at tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities.
And attacks may occur on remote islands, which could lengthen the response time of authorities.
Furthermore, U.S. citizens can obtain assistance from the U.S. Embassy Colombo in Sri Lanka.
If you travel to Maldives in 2023, the U.S. government suggests enrolling in the Smart Traveler Program to receive alerts during an emergency.
Moreover, getting to the Maldives is now easier.
The capital city of Malé recently announced the launch of Saudi Arabia's airline Flynas.
In 2022, Maldives welcomed over 1.6 million tourists.
From a health perspective, the U.S. CDC says no notices currently exist for Maldives.
However, the CDC encourages visitors to be current on several travel vaccinations, such as yellow fever, measles, and typhoid.
GSK plc today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted a Fast Track designation for its Neisseria gonorrhoeae investigational vaccine (NgG).
Fast Track designation is intended to facilitate the development and expedite the review of potentially important new drugs and vaccines to treat or prevent serious conditions with unmet medical needs.
As of June 27, 2023, the vaccine candidate is conducting a Phase II clinical trial and aims to demonstrate proof of concept by assessing the efficacy of the NgG vaccine in healthy adults.
Phil Dormitzer, Global Head of Vaccines R&D, GSK, commented in a related press release, "This designation recognizes the potential for a vaccine that could help protect millions of people across the world against the serious health consequences of infection with a bacterium that is considered a 'high priority' pathogen by the World Health Organisation."
Gonorrhoea is the second most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infection worldwide, with an estimated 82 million new cases yearly.
In the U.S., rates of reported gonorrhea have increased by 118% from 2009 to 2021.
Furthermore, antimicrobial resistance to gonorrhea has increased over the past 80 years, rendering many classes of antibiotics used to treat the disease ineffective.
Vaccines can play a critical role in the fight against AMR by helping prevent bacterial, viral, and other infections.
Currently, no gonorrhea-specific vaccines are approved anywhere in the world, says GSK.
However, in France, the meningococcal (MenB-4C) vaccine is recommended against gonorrhea.
And Intravacc's Avacc 11® is the prophylactic intranasal gonorrhea candidate vaccine.
As of June 28, 2023, gonorrhea vaccine and treatment news have been published by Precision Vaccinations.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today republished an expanded global polio outbreak Travel Health Notice.
On June 26, 2023, the CDC identified thirty destinations with circulating poliovirus.
And, before travel to any destination listed, adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series may receive a single, lifetime booster dose of a polio vaccine.
In the U.S., the IPV vaccine has been offered since 2000. Oral polio vaccines are provided in various countries in 2023.
For example, the new nOPV2 vaccine has been administered over 620 million times in recent years.
The CDC says polio is a crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system.
Because the virus that causes polio lives in the feces of an infected person, people infected with the disease can spread it to others when they do not wash their hands well after defecating.
People can also be infected if they drink water or eat food contaminated with infected feces.
Most people with polio do not feel sick. Some people have only minor symptoms, such as fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the arms and legs.
In rare cases, polio infection causes permanent loss of muscle function. Polio can be fatal if the muscles used for breathing are paralyzed or if there is an infection of the brain, says the CDC.
IAVI announced today that the initial participants had been vaccinated with a Sudan virus (SUDV) vaccine candidate in a first-in-human Phase I clinical trial in the U.S.
As of June 27, 2023, the IAVI C108 IAVI-sponsored trial is funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
IAVI C108 will occur at two U.S.-based clinical trial sites, where the vaccine candidate will be administered intramuscularly at three dosage levels.
This is essential news since there are no SUDV vaccines available.
Furthermore, like the Zaire Ebolavirus (ZEBOV), SUDV is responsible for recurring viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks across sub-Saharan Africa.
In past Ebola outbreaks, the estimated case fatality ratios of SUDV disease have varied from 41% to 100%.
This study evaluates the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational SUDV vaccine candidate previously donated to IAVI by Merck. This investigational SUDV vaccine candidate was produced for IAVI from an existing investigational bulk drug substance previously manufactured by Merck.
IAVI is responsible for all aspects of the candidate’s future development, including demonstrating equivalence between this SUDV vaccine candidate and IAVI’s other SUDV vaccine candidate, which utilizes the same viral vector but is manufactured using a new production platform.
The SUDV vaccine candidate being evaluated in IAVI C108 uses the same recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) viral vector platform as ERVEBO®, Merck’s single-dose ZEBOV vaccine, which is licensed in the U.S., U.K., European Union, Canada, Switzerland, and 10 African countries.
“IAVI C108 represents an important first step toward generating the data needed for eventual licensure of an rVSV-SUDV vaccine. The development and licensure of ERVEBO® have resulted in an important tool in Ebola Zaire outbreak responses. If proven effective, we’re hopeful that a vaccine candidate built on the same viral platform will be similarly important in future SUDV outbreaks,” said Swati Gupta, Ph.D., vice president and head of emerging infectious diseases and epidemiology at IAVI, in a related press release.
The rVSV platform has been used extensively in adults and children. The underlying vesicular stomatitis virus is a common animal virus that does not cause serious illness in humans and has been investigated extensively as a vaccine vector.
In the vaccine platform, it is engineered to encode a surface protein from a target pathogen, in this case, SUDV, to prompt the body to mount an immune response.
Much of the research and development on IAVI’s rVSV platform is performed at the IAVI Vaccine Design and Development Lab in Brooklyn, New York.
