Study reveals emergency vaccination cuts infectious disease deaths by 60% - ITREALMS

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A groundbreaking study has found that emergency vaccination responses to cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis, and yellow fever outbreaks have reduced deaths by nearly 60% on average between 2000 and 2023, reports ITREALMS.

The study, conducted by Burnet Institute in collaboration with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, also estimated that these efforts generated at least $32 billion in economic benefits.

Breaking News: University of Manchester to develop vaccine for Zika virus

Breaking News@ITRealms: 

A team of experts from the University of Manchester have been commissioned to develop a new vaccine against the Zika virus as part of an initiative to counter the disease which has spread rapidly across the Americas in the last few months, reports ITRealms.

The team, ITRealms gathered would create and test a vaccine based on a safe derivative of a pre-existing smallpox vaccine – the only disease to have been successfully globally eradicated.

Dr. Tom Blanchard, Honorary Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester and Fellow of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Consultant in Infectious Diseases at North Manchester General Hospital and the Royal Liverpool Hospital will lead the project. 

Professor Pam Vallely and Dr Eddie McKenzie are University of Manchester experts involved in the project and the work will be done in collaboration with Professors Miles Carrol and Roger Hewson from Public Health England.

“As we have seen in the case of Ebola there is now a real need to react quickly to fast spreading tropical diseases.  Zika can cause serious illness, but it often has no visible symptoms, so a vaccine for those at risk is one of the most effective ways we have of combating it,” Dr. Blanchard said.

ITRealms recollects, Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 and the disease is mainly spread by mosquitoes, though there have been reports of human to human transmission.  It is particularly serious for pregnant women, as it's been linked to birth defects – in particular, microcephaly, a condition where a baby’s brain doesn’t grow properly and it is born with an abnormally small head and serious development problems.

A recent and particularly severe outbreak which began in South America and has since spread north to United States Territories prompted the Medical Research Council, The Wellcome Trust and the Newton Fund to launch a £4m rapid response funding initiative at the beginning of February. 

Media Relations Manager at the University, Mr. James Brown, informed ITRealms that the results of this call for proposals were announced Monday and Dr Blanchard and his team were awarded £177,713 to build and test a vaccine as part of this.

It is expected that the results will be delivered within 18 months and although the first target will be the Zika virus, the nature of the vaccine candidate may enable it to combat many infectious diseases simultaneously.

Dr Blanchard added: “We know that there’s an urgent need for this vaccine but we’ll be working carefully to deliver a product which is safe and effective and which can be quickly deployed to those who need it.

“If we can also use this vaccine on multiple targets then this will represent an exciting step forward in dealing with these kinds of outbreaks.”

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 

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