Login
Doctors Trial World’s First mRNA Vaccine Against Vomiting Bug Norovirus
Doctors have begun trialing the world’s first mRNA vaccine against the vomiting bug norovirus in the hope the jab could bring huge health and economic benefits.
Norovirus causes sickness and diarrhea and can spread very rapidly between people who are in close contact, with outbreaks often occurring in hospitals, care homes, schools and nurseries.
While most people recover within two to three days, the virus can be serious, particularly for the very young, elderly or people with a weakened immune system.
Dr. Patrick Moore, a general practitioner and national chief investigator for the trial in the U.K., said that at present there were no approved vaccines for norovirus in the world, while people who become very ill were simply given intravenous fluids.
Pfizer’s RSV Vaccine Cleared by FDA for Use in Some Younger Adults
The U.S. is entering the second RSV season in which vaccines for the virus are available for older adults. Yet, despite three options on the market from Pfizer, GSK and Moderna, uptake has been slow so far this season.
In a note to clients earlier this month, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee noted how vaccination is both tracking slower than last year and lower than analysts had expected.
One factor could be recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which doesn’t currently advise previously vaccinated individuals get another shot just yet. The agency also narrowed its guidance to focus on higher-risk adults who are over the age of 75 years.
The new U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval broadens the number of people who are eligible for Abrysvo, and could spur new uptake among younger adults who haven’t yet received a vaccine.
Bird Flu Cases in People Quietly Tick up, With Dozens Reported Across 6 States
Four new cases of avian influenza were detected in farmworkers in Washington state this week, the latest in a drumbeat of human infections cropping up across the U.S. as the virus continues to spread among farm animals.
Washington is the sixth state to report human cases of bird flu, which has spread rampantly in wild birds, poultry and cattle. Assuming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms the state’s positive tests, they will bring the U.S. tally to at least 31.
Flu experts said the risk of a broader outbreak among humans will continue to simmer if the virus remains uncontrolled in animals. “The longer this virus hangs out in the environment, the more animals it spills over into, the more it changes in ways we don’t understand or predict, the more concerned we are going to be that this becomes the next global pandemic,” said Dr. Amber Itle, the Washington state veterinarian.
For now, however, health officials maintain that the virus has not made key genetic changes that would allow it to spread between people.
At the same time, the U.S. is preparing for flu season, when circulation of common influenza viruses increases in fall and winter. If two influenza viruses share the same host, they can share genetic information and mutate more quickly. “You don’t want people affected with the seasonal flu virus to get a virus from animals and for those viruses to potentially recombine,” said Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington and the director of its Center for One Health Research.
Rabinowitz added that it is important to improve protection protocols for farmworkers and encourage them to get their flu shots. “This is a wakeup call. We need to do a better job of protecting workers,” he said.
Do you have a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Vaccination of Young Children Could Dramatically Reduce Mpox Deaths in DRC
Vaccinating children under five-years-old in endemic mpox regions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would significantly reduce the number of deaths in the country, according to a new analysis by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.
The study, led by Gregg Gonsalves, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), and Alexandra Savinkina, a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) at YSPH, modeled different mpox vaccination strategies in the DRC to see which one was most effective.Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It was first identified in the DRC in 1970, with an unprecedented large outbreak occurring in 2023. Health officials say the virus is currently spreading at an alarming rate. More than 14,000 cases and 700 deaths from mpox occurred in the DRC in 2023, with 70% of those cases diagnosed in children.
So far in 2024, Congolese authorities have reported more than 31,000 suspected cases and nearly 1,000 deaths. But researchers suspect the actual total case number is much higher as mpox is largely underreported in the DRC, with only an estimated 41% of cases being documented.
Roche Hikes Mpox Tests Production Capacity as Virus Spreads
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Wednesday that it was increasing its capacity to produce diagnostic tests to detect mpox, amid a flare-up of the potentially deadly virus.
“We’ve ramped up our production in order to meet potential demand,” Roche chief Thomas Schinecker told reporters as he presented the company’s third quarter sales results.
Fresh outbreaks of the viral disease — some involving a new variant — have hit a range of countries in Africa in recent months, with more than 1,100 mpox deaths recorded on the continent so far this year, according to the African Union’s health agency.
The disease has also spread further afield, with Germany on Tuesday recording a first infection with the new mpox variant clade 1b, while single cases have also been detected in Sweden and Thailand. “It seems like there are more cases in Europe,” Schinecker said. “Maybe they are not all in the media yet, but there are already more mpox cases.”
FDA Expands Approval of RSV Vaccine Abrysvo to Include All at-Risk Adults
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the approval of the bivalent RSV prefusion F (RSVpreF) vaccine (Abrysvo) to include the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in high-risk adults ages 18 to 59 years, Pfizer announced on Tuesday.
The approval expands on the vaccine’s existing indications for the prevention of RSV-associated LRTD in adults ages 60 years and older and for pregnant individuals to protect infants at birth.
“RSV represents a significant threat to younger adults with certain chronic conditions,” Aamir Malik, chief U.S. commercial officer and executive vice president at Pfizer, said in a press release. “We now have the opportunity to help alleviate the burden of RSV in this high-risk adult population.”
