Scientists seeking a vaccine against malaria, which kills a child every minute in Africa, have developed a promising new approach intended to imprison the disease-causing parasites inside the red blood cells they infect...
Archive - May 2014
adminSpreading polio remains a global hazard
Just when it looked as if polio was nearing global eradication, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the international spread of polio a public health emergency that warranted aggressive control measures. In...
AIDS vaccine could neutralize nearly all strains of virus
A study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) recently found that a vaccine or other therapy directed at a single site on a surface protein of HIV could in principle neutralize nearly all strains of...
African camels show MERS virus more widespread than believed
The deadly respiratory virus that has spread from Saudi Arabia around the world was found in camels in Nigeria, Tunisia and Ethiopia, showing the pathogen is more widespread than previously known. Middle East...
Measles virus used to treat bone marrow cancer
The paper has reported on a new study in the growing field of virotherapy – a treatment where viruses are used to attack diseases. The study was a proof of concept study, involving people with multiple myeloma – a type...
Early vaccination could save lives, dollars in next flu pandemic, study shows
Early vaccination could save both lives and money during the next flu pandemic, according to a study led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. Using lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic...
We need a MERS vaccine, but high costs, regulations make one unlikely
New technologies give vaccine developers a boost in early development, but large-scale testing and production are bogged down by high costs and lengthy trials. Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, is spreading...
Vaccine development: thinking out of the cold box
Heat is rendering life-saving vaccines ineffective in areas which need them most. What will it take for the drug companies to act? Immunisation is widely accepted to be one of the great public health successes of recent...
EU more than doubles vaccine aid as Gavi launches appeal
The EU has pledged an increase to its annual aid budget for vaccines and immunisation programmes from €10 million to €25 million in the 2014-2020 budgetary period, on the day that the Gavi Alliance launches a funding...
The true public detriment of the anti-vaccination movement
Diseases that have long been under control have seen a vast outbreak across the U.S. as an anti-vaccine phenomenon has allowed these once tamed diseases to make a roaring comeback. Although vaccination rates against the...