Travel Vaccine Breaking News

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed today additional highly pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI) H5N1 detections in mammals.

The updated USDA listing as of January 9, 2023, includes skunks, bears, raccoons, and another red fox.

The USDA previously confirmed the Eurasian H5N1 strain first appeared in North America in January 2022.

On January 5, 2023, the StarHeral reported HAPI infections were the cause of death for four animals at the Riverside Discovery Center in Scottsbluff. The Nebraska zoo confirmed a cougar, bear, and two tigers had died.

The release indicates the animals ate local geese with HPAI in their systems.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says although bird flu (HAPI) viruses mainly infect and spread among wild migratory water birds and domestic poultry, some bird flu viruses can infect other animals as well.

While it’s unlikely people would become infected with bird flu viruses, it is possible, says the CDC.

Globally, six human influenza A H5N1 2.3.4.4b infections were reported last year, including a man working with birds in Colorado

Since April 2022, about 110 H5N1 detections in mammals were confirmed during 2022.

The USDA reported HAPI detections had affected 47 states and led to the loss of over 57.8 million birds as of January 4, 2023.

Additional HAPI (bird-flu) news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/Avain.

The Government of Canada confirmed on January 7, 2023, Canadians should exercise a high degree of caution in Mexico due to civil unrest.

And to avoid non-essential travel to various areas due to high crime levels.

For example, Canadians visiting Mexico were recently informed to limit their movements in Mexico's northwest area. Canadian tourists in Mexico's Sinaloa state remained in their hotels for several days after civil unrest was reported.

The Canadian government has released a list of travel advisories for countries like Mexico to avoid similar situations, empowering more informed travel decisions.

"The safety of Canadians abroad is a top priority for the Government of Canada," Marilyne Guèvremont, spokesperson at Global Affairs Canada, told Global News on January 8, 2023.

To alert U.S. citizens of these risks, the in-person consular services at the U.S. Consular Agency in Mazatlan remained suspended on January 9, 2023. 

This is a continuation of the suspension of services previously announced, stemming from the violence across Sinaloa. 

U.S. citizens in need of a passport who plan to fly from Sinaloa to the United States in the next week should email the American Citizen Services unit at the U.S. Consulate General in Hermosillo.

The U.S. Consulates General in Hermosillo and Guadalajara continue to offer in-person consular services.

The U.S. State Department reminds U.S. citizens that Sinaloa is classified as Level 4 – Do Not Travel – in its travel advisory for Mexico.

Please visit travel.state.gov for the entire Mexico Travel Advisory, issued in October 2022, to see state-level summaries and advisory levels for your specific travel destination. 

The U.S. State Department will soon begin correctly spelling the Republic of Turkey as "Türkiye" in formal settings.

According to the U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price, on January 5, 2023, the name change was approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names following a request from the Turkish embassy.

In June 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan requested the name change by launching a global rebranding campaign. He asked the rest of the world to embrace his country's original name, not the anglicized version.

"Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people's culture, civilization, and values," President Erdogan commented.

Turkish people have called their country Türkiye since 1923, at the end of the Ottoman Empire and when the Turkish Republic was formed.

Data sources indicate Türkiye recorded 16 million tourists in 2020, ranking 15th worldwide.

Türkiye's cosmopolitan capital Ankara is positioned in the central Anatolia region.

While Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople, is Turkey's largest city and is the gateway between Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. 

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have an active travel notice, its website says to check the vaccines and medicines list and visit your doctor or pharmacist at least a month before visiting Türkiye to get what is needed for your trip.

And the Department of Stated suggests visitors exercise increased caution when traveling to Türkiye as some areas have increased risk.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara is located at 1480 Sok No:1 Cukurambar Mah Cankaya 06530, Ankara.

The New York State Department of Health Wastewater Surveillance's recent report reveals two additional positive poliovirus samples were identified in lower New York. 

As of January 6, 2023, sequencing analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the presence of poliovirus in a total of 101 positive samples of concern.

The poliovirus samples were collected in Rockland County, Orange County, Sullivan County, Nassau County, Brooklyn (Kings County), and Queens County.

The CDC says 94 of these samples are genetically linked to a Rockland County, NY, resident who was confirmed with polio (Acute flaccid myelitis) in 2022.

Polio is highly contagious, and people can spread the virus even if they don't know they're sick. However, individuals infected with polio shed viruses in their stools. 

New York says wastewater surveillance is an essential public health tool, providing the early and ongoing detection of polio in communities.

This monitoring helps identify where the virus may be and when, though it does not provide quantitative information about who or how many people or households may be infected.

Furthermore, wastewater collected in sewer systems in New York cannot be a source of polio infection or transmission for the general public. And it does not contaminate New York drinking water, including tap water, streams, and lakes, says the Department of Health.

The CDC says polio is a vaccine-preventable disease, and vaccines are generally available at clinics and pharmacies in New York.

Other polio outbreak news for 2023 is posted at PrecisionVacccinations.com/Polio.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Eisai R&D Management Co., Ltd.'s Leqembi for treating Alzheimer's disease.

Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb) is the second of a new category of medications approved for Alzheimer's disease that target the fundamental pathophysiology of the disease.

In July 2021, the FDA approved Aduhelm, an amyloid beta-directed antibody indicated to treat Alzheimer’s disease. 

These medications represent an essential advancement in the ongoing fight to effectively treat Alzheimer's disease.

The labeling states that treatment with Leqembi should be initiated in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia stage of disease, the population in which treatment was studied in clinical trials.

The labeling also states that there are no safety or effectiveness data on initiating treatment at earlier or later stages of the disease than were studied.

The FDA granted this application Fast Track, Priority Review, and Breakthrough Therapy designations.

"Alzheimer's disease immeasurably incapacitates the lives of those who suffer from it and has devastating effects on their loved ones," said Billy Dunn, M.D., director of the Office of Neuroscience in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a press release on January 6, 2023.

"This treatment option is the latest therapy to target and affect the underlying disease process of Alzheimer's, instead of only treating the symptoms of the disease."

The results of a Phase 3 randomized, controlled clinical trial to confirm the drug's clinical benefit have recently been reported, and the agency anticipates receiving the data soon.

Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder affecting more than 6.5 million Americans that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out simple tasks.

While the specific causes of Alzheimer's are not fully known, it is characterized by changes in the brain—including amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary, or tau, tangles—that result in the loss of neurons and their connections.

These changes affect a person's ability to remember and think.

As of January 7, 2023, the FDA has not approved an Alzheimer's disease vaccine. However, there are several conducting clinical trials.

Disclosure: FDA and NIH announcements were manually curated.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported seasonal influenza activity remains high in the U.S. but is declining in most areas.

However, influenza-related fatalities have increased.

As of Week #51, the CDC disclosed 74 influenza-associated pediatric fatalities were reported during the 2022-2023 flu season. Unfortunately, 13 of those deaths were recently reported.

Furthermore, the CDC confirmed on January 6, 2023, that among the 2,380 pneumonia, influenza, and/or COVID-19 (PIC) fatalities last week, 303 were influenza-related.

The CDC continues every eligible person to get annual flu shots, which are generally available at clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. 

"An annual flu shot is the best way to protect against influenza," CDC researchers wrote in today's weekly report.

"Vaccination helps prevent infection and can also prevent serious outcomes in people who still get sick with flu."

Vaxcyte, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for VAX-24, an investigational 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) candidate for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), in adults.

PD is an infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

With Breakthrough Therapy designation, Vaxcyte will have access to all of the elements of the FDA's Fast Track program.

The company stated the FDA's decision was based on positive topline results from the Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study, which evaluated the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of VAX-24 in adults 18-64 years of age.

Grant Pickering, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Vaxcyte, said in a press release on January 5, 2022, "Our focus remains on advancing our VAX-24 clinical programs in both adults and infants."

"And we anticipate announcing the topline data from the Phase 2 study in adults 65 and older in the second quarter of 2023."

VAX-24 is intended to improve the standard-of-care PCVs for children and adults by covering the serotypes responsible for most of the pneumococcal disease currently in circulation.

Vaxcyte aims to efficiently create and deliver high-fidelity, broad-spectrum vaccines, such as VAX-24, by using modern synthetic techniques, including advanced chemistry and the XpressCF™ cell-free protein synthesis platform.

In the U.S., approximately 900,000 people get pneumococcal pneumonia each year, which is estimated to result in about 150,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths.

Pneumococci also cause over 50% of all cases of bacterial meningitis, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Antibiotics are used to treat pneumococcal disease, but some strains of the bacteria have developed resistance to treatments. 

As of January 5, 2022, the U.S. FDA has approved various PCV vaccines, and several are conducting late-stage clinical research.

Disclosures: The company and CDC published the data, and this news post is not paid content.