Zika Breaking News

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.

The newest ship in the Mercy Ships fleet will soon lower her gangway in Dakar, Senegal, and welcome patients on board to receive life-changing surgery.

In 2023, Mercy Ships will serve patients in two countries – Senegal and The Gambia – from one port, with six operating rooms and 199 beds.

Since the new ship's construction was completed in mid-2021, she's been preparing to serve her first patients.

The Global Mercy hospital will bring new technology and larger spaces to the field service.

The new hospital has several advantages.

Many off-ship facilities, like the dockside medical tents, have been moved on board. This saves weeks of setup and tear-down, allowing more time for surgeries.

Built-in cameras will allow trainees to watch surgeries remotely, exponentially expanding training opportunities.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) today announced its perspective regarding the recent news that some pharmacies are reducing operating hours.

'Like other health care professionals, pharmacy teams across the country have been stressed and stretched delivering patient care that they are educated and trained to provide while being inadequately staffed or supported in some cases.

During the pandemic, the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination, a collaboration between the federal government, states, and territories, and 21 national pharmacy partners and independent pharmacies, increased access to COVID-19 vaccines for millions of people. 

Appropriate staffing and workplace conditions are essential for a pharmacy to deliver quality patient care safely.

Time will tell how reduced operating hours will impact patients and pharmacy teams.

For patients, reducing pharmacy operating hours will impact when they can pick-up prescriptions, get vaccines, and receive other pharmacist services.

For pharmacists, because prescribers must continue to write prescriptions, the workload remains unchanged ... while pharmacy personnel will now have less time to do the work.

Many pharmacists already work after closing to keep up with prescription volume.

It is essential that appropriate pharmacy staffing is addressed, and employers and the public recognize pharmacy personnel's well-being as an essential component for safe and effective patient care.

"Some are blaming reduced hours on a pharmacist shortage. It is incorrect that there is a shortage of pharmacists or pharmacy technicians. More accurately, there is a shortage of pharmacists and technicians willing to work under the current conditions. Pharmacy is a rewarding profession, and pharmacists are experts in medication use."

"Therefore, we need to stop conflating and blaming the current conditions on pharmacist or technician shortages when it's due to short-staffing and health care system faults," said Ilisa BG Bernstein, PharmD, JD, FAPhA, interim executive vice president and CEO of APhA, in a press release on January 30, 2023.

"APhA has been on the frontlines of this issue and is driving the urgent and critical change that is needed in the current pharmacy workplace model," she said.

"For pharmacy teams, APhA offers resources and tools to support pharmacy personnel and provide data to improve pharmacy team well-being across the country."

"APhA and NASPA's PWWR tool is first of its kind; it allows pharmacists and pharmacy personnel to anonymously and confidentially share positive and negative workplace and well-being issues as we work to make necessary changes."

For example, Texas-based pharmacies affiliated with the Texas Department of State Health Services are actively administering COVID-19 boosters and oral therapeutics. Use Vaccines.gov to search for vaccination sites by zip code. 

Scientists are harnessing a new way to turn cancer cells into potent, anti-cancer agents. Researchers recently published data in Science Translational Medicine. that showed they had developed a new cell therapy approach to eliminate established tumors and induce long-term immunity, training the immune system to prevent glioblastoma, with promising results.

Cancer vaccines are an active area of research for many labs, but this innovative approach is distinct.

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, the 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.

“Our team has pursued a simple idea: to take cancer cells and transform them into cancer killers and vaccines,” said corresponding author Khalid Shah, MS, Ph.D., director of the Center for Stem Cell and Translational Immunotherapy 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, in a related press release.

“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.”

“Our goal is to take an innovative but translatable approach so that we can develop a therapeutic, cancer-killing vaccine that ultimately will have a lasting impact in medicine.”

Shah and colleagues noted that this therapeutic strategy applies to a broader range of solid tumors and that further investigations of its applications are warranted.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recently reported its ongoing diphtheria outbreak had recorded 38 deaths in the country.

On January 20, 2023, NCDC confirmed it has responded to diphtheria cases in Lagos and Kano States and is monitoring the situation in Osun and Yobe States.

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection caused by the corynebacterium species that affect an individual's nose, throat, and sometimes, skin. It spreads quickly between people through:

• Direct contact with infected people,
• Droplets from coughing or sneezing,
• Contact with contaminated clothing and objects.

Over the past five decades, diphtheria has reduced dramatically worldwide.

And since diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease, the NCDC childhood immunization schedule recommends three doses of pentavalent vaccine (diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine) are recommended for children early in life.

Furthermore, the NCDC announced on January 23, 2023, all healthcare workers with a high level of exposure to diphtheria should be vaccinated.

The U.S. CDC stated in December 2022 to ensure you are up-to-date on all routine vaccines before visiting Nigeria, including for Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis.

Additionally, the CDC has issued Travel Advisories regarding Nigeria's Mpox, yellow fever, polio, and measles outbreaks.

Vaccines available at travel clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. prevent these diseases.