BCG, the only currently approved TB vaccine, has been around for almost a century and is only partially effective. When given to children, BCG is estimated to prevent 20% of infections and to protect half of the...
Archive - July 2016
adminCheckpoint in B cell development discovered with possible implications on vaccine potency
In a paper published in the July 14 inaugural issue of the journal Science Immunology, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers report a new quality-control checkpoint function in developing B cells, cells that...
Laval University to hold world’s first Zika vaccine test on humans
The Infectious Disease Research Centre at Laval University (CRI) and the Research Centre of Quebec-Laval University Hospital (CHU) have announced the completion of a first in Canada study clinic on a vaccine against...
South Africa: Only a vaccine will break the back of HIV – Health Minister
Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, says South Africans should welcome any initiative aimed at finding an effective HIV vaccine, adding that many battles against diseases were won using vaccines. He was reacting to...
Penn-led team develops plant-based Polio booster vaccine
Jonas Salk created a vaccine against polio that has been used since 1955; Albert Sabin created another version that has been on the market since 1961. Together, these two vaccines have nearly eliminated polio from the...
Travelers import superbugs
Many tourists returning from India were found colonized with multidrug-resistant “superbugs.” Microbiologists at the Institute for Infectious Diseases of the University of Bern, Switzerland, also isolated a...
Scientists find possible vaccine for sexual transmitted disease
In a huge new discovery, scientists may have just found a possible new vaccine for a very common sexually transmitted disease. Chlamydia is a relatively common sexually transmitted infection that is mainly treatable and...
Dengue virus protein alters blood vessel surface, makes it leaky
The major symptom of severe dengue disease is leakage of blood plasma out of small blood vessels, which can lead to shock and death. A study published on July 14th in PLOS Pathogens suggests that the dengue virus (DENV)...
One fast vaccine strategy could protect against Ebola, H1N1, more
Nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNAs successfully vaccinate mice against pathogens. Vaccination has improved health and lengthened life spans over the last two centuries, but it takes time to develop vaccines in response to...
More bad news for malaria vaccine
The protection provided by the world’s first malaria vaccine all but disappears after seven years, according to a new study. A phase-two clinical trial of Mosquirix (RTS,S) in Kenya showed just 4 percent effectiveness...