Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/04/news-scan-apr-26-2019
News Scan for Apr 26, 2019
Measles in LA; New polio cases in five countries; Vax platform technologies; H5N1 in humans
Filed Under:
Measles; Polio; Pandemic Influenza; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
[h=3]UCLA and Cal State quarantine students, faculty exposed to measles[/h] Yesterday the University of California, Los Angeles and California State University, Los Angeles campus announced a quarantine of 280 students and faculty exposed to students who have measles, according to news reports.
The news came the same day California officials said 38 people have been confirmed with measles in the state so far this year. Five of those cases are from LA County, including one student each from the two universities.
The latest possible exposure to the virus on UCLA's campus took place on Apr 9, officials said. A student with the disease attended classes on Apr 2, 4, and 9. The student at Cal State was reported to have visited the library while contagious.
"We are still awaiting medical records from 119 students and eight faculty members to determine whether they are immune to the measles," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in a statement. Bock said the quarantine will last up to 48 hours, until proof of immunity is established.
Measles has resurged in the United States, with almost 700 cases reported this year ? the most in any year since the virus was eliminated in 2000. Most outbreaks in the US are currently tied to international travel.
Apr 25 UCLA statement
Apr 25 LA Times story
[h=3]Five countries report new polio cases[/h] Multiple countries reporting ongoing polio activity reported new cases this week, including wild poliovirus infections in Afghanistan and Pakistan and vaccine-derived polio cases and positive contacts in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Somalia, according to the latest weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
In Afghanistan, three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported, two from different districts in Hilmand province and one from Uruzgan province. The respective paralysis onset dates were Mar 6, Mar 23, and Mar 20. The new cases lift the country's total for the year to six WPV 1 cases.
Meanwhile, the GPEI noted early notification of two WPV1 cases, both from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one a patient from Bannu district with an Apr 2 paralysis onset and the other from North Waziristan district with an Apr 4 paralysis onset. When the cases are confirmed, the number of cases from Pakistan this year will reach eight.
In Africa, Nigeria reported two vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, one a patient from Kwara state with a Mar 20 paralysis onset and the other a patient from Niger state with a Mar 18 paralysis onset. The developments lift Nigeria's total for 2019 to seven cases. DRC health officials reported one cVDPV2 case from Kasai state with a paralysis onset of Feb 8, its first of 2019. Also, the country reported two cVDPV2 community isolates, also from Kasai state. The GPEI said with the addition of the Kasai state cases the DRC is now affected by five separate cVDPV2 outbreaks.
Elsewhere in Africa, Somalia reported one cVDPV2 case and a related contact from Sool province. The patient had a Mar 15 paralysis onset, and the confirmation of the case marks the country's first cVDPV2 illness for 2019.
Apr 26 GPEI weekly update
[h=3]New report covers vaccine platform potential for countermeasure development[/h] Over the past several years, vaccine platform technologies have been developed that enable the rapid production of multiple products from a single system, which may help medical countermeasure development evolve away from a less efficient "one bug one drug" approach, according to a report released yesterday by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The report covers major scientific and policy issues related to vaccine platforms and how they are understood in government, academia, and industry, according to a Center for Health Security news release.
Amesh Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the center and leader of team that wrote the report, said, "platforms have the potential to accelerate the vaccine development timeline and the work in this report will hopefully catalyze the discussion of how the power of platform vaccine technologies can be harnessed as a pandemic tool." The report was funded by the Open Philanthropy Project.
The group said as pandemic preparedness matures, integrating new vaccine platform technologies into countermeasure development has the potential to impact resilience to both global catastrophic biologic risks and other epidemic threats. They tie in findings from existing evidence, informational interviews, and a workshop held with subject matter experts. And they make five main recommendations that center around platform and nonplatform vaccine technology proliferation; focusing platform-based assessments on accelerating manufacturing rather than speeding regulatory developments; supporting traditional vaccine development; prioritizing mRNA-based vaccines; and giving special consideration to platform technologies, given market conditions.
Apr 25 Center for Health Security news release
Apr 25 Center for Health Security vaccine platform report
[h=3]High viral loads linked to fatal H5N1 cases[/h] A new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases uses nasal and fecal samples to estimate viral loads in human patients with avian influenza H5N1, finding that higher viral loads are linked to fatal cases.
The study was based in Indonesia. Since 2005, Indonesia has recorded 200 human infections with clade 2.1 highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 virus, and the cases have a high case-fatality rate of 84%.
Researchers collected specimens from 180 H5N1 patients between 2007 and 2015, representing 90% of all Indonesian patients and 20% of reported H5N1-infected patients globally. They also tested for resistance to oseltamivir, an antiviral drug.
Feces and blood had the highest concentrations of H5N1 RNA, and higher viral loads correlated with fatal cases. Genes that conferred resistance to antivirals were also more prevalent in fatal cases.
Apr 26 Clin Infect Dis study
News Scan for Apr 26, 2019
Measles in LA; New polio cases in five countries; Vax platform technologies; H5N1 in humans
Filed Under:
Measles; Polio; Pandemic Influenza; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
[h=3]UCLA and Cal State quarantine students, faculty exposed to measles[/h] Yesterday the University of California, Los Angeles and California State University, Los Angeles campus announced a quarantine of 280 students and faculty exposed to students who have measles, according to news reports.
The news came the same day California officials said 38 people have been confirmed with measles in the state so far this year. Five of those cases are from LA County, including one student each from the two universities.
The latest possible exposure to the virus on UCLA's campus took place on Apr 9, officials said. A student with the disease attended classes on Apr 2, 4, and 9. The student at Cal State was reported to have visited the library while contagious.
"We are still awaiting medical records from 119 students and eight faculty members to determine whether they are immune to the measles," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in a statement. Bock said the quarantine will last up to 48 hours, until proof of immunity is established.
Measles has resurged in the United States, with almost 700 cases reported this year ? the most in any year since the virus was eliminated in 2000. Most outbreaks in the US are currently tied to international travel.
Apr 25 UCLA statement
Apr 25 LA Times story
[h=3]Five countries report new polio cases[/h] Multiple countries reporting ongoing polio activity reported new cases this week, including wild poliovirus infections in Afghanistan and Pakistan and vaccine-derived polio cases and positive contacts in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Somalia, according to the latest weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
In Afghanistan, three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported, two from different districts in Hilmand province and one from Uruzgan province. The respective paralysis onset dates were Mar 6, Mar 23, and Mar 20. The new cases lift the country's total for the year to six WPV 1 cases.
Meanwhile, the GPEI noted early notification of two WPV1 cases, both from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one a patient from Bannu district with an Apr 2 paralysis onset and the other from North Waziristan district with an Apr 4 paralysis onset. When the cases are confirmed, the number of cases from Pakistan this year will reach eight.
In Africa, Nigeria reported two vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, one a patient from Kwara state with a Mar 20 paralysis onset and the other a patient from Niger state with a Mar 18 paralysis onset. The developments lift Nigeria's total for 2019 to seven cases. DRC health officials reported one cVDPV2 case from Kasai state with a paralysis onset of Feb 8, its first of 2019. Also, the country reported two cVDPV2 community isolates, also from Kasai state. The GPEI said with the addition of the Kasai state cases the DRC is now affected by five separate cVDPV2 outbreaks.
Elsewhere in Africa, Somalia reported one cVDPV2 case and a related contact from Sool province. The patient had a Mar 15 paralysis onset, and the confirmation of the case marks the country's first cVDPV2 illness for 2019.
Apr 26 GPEI weekly update
[h=3]New report covers vaccine platform potential for countermeasure development[/h] Over the past several years, vaccine platform technologies have been developed that enable the rapid production of multiple products from a single system, which may help medical countermeasure development evolve away from a less efficient "one bug one drug" approach, according to a report released yesterday by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The report covers major scientific and policy issues related to vaccine platforms and how they are understood in government, academia, and industry, according to a Center for Health Security news release.
Amesh Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the center and leader of team that wrote the report, said, "platforms have the potential to accelerate the vaccine development timeline and the work in this report will hopefully catalyze the discussion of how the power of platform vaccine technologies can be harnessed as a pandemic tool." The report was funded by the Open Philanthropy Project.
The group said as pandemic preparedness matures, integrating new vaccine platform technologies into countermeasure development has the potential to impact resilience to both global catastrophic biologic risks and other epidemic threats. They tie in findings from existing evidence, informational interviews, and a workshop held with subject matter experts. And they make five main recommendations that center around platform and nonplatform vaccine technology proliferation; focusing platform-based assessments on accelerating manufacturing rather than speeding regulatory developments; supporting traditional vaccine development; prioritizing mRNA-based vaccines; and giving special consideration to platform technologies, given market conditions.
Apr 25 Center for Health Security news release
Apr 25 Center for Health Security vaccine platform report
[h=3]High viral loads linked to fatal H5N1 cases[/h] A new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases uses nasal and fecal samples to estimate viral loads in human patients with avian influenza H5N1, finding that higher viral loads are linked to fatal cases.
The study was based in Indonesia. Since 2005, Indonesia has recorded 200 human infections with clade 2.1 highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 virus, and the cases have a high case-fatality rate of 84%.
Researchers collected specimens from 180 H5N1 patients between 2007 and 2015, representing 90% of all Indonesian patients and 20% of reported H5N1-infected patients globally. They also tested for resistance to oseltamivir, an antiviral drug.
Feces and blood had the highest concentrations of H5N1 RNA, and higher viral loads correlated with fatal cases. Genes that conferred resistance to antivirals were also more prevalent in fatal cases.
Apr 26 Clin Infect Dis study