Research

In pursuit of next-generation Ebola stockpile vaccines

Sun, 2015-02-01 16:16 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Kate Kell and Ben Herschler Feb. 1. 2015
LONDON --As West Africa's devastating Ebola outbreak begins to dwindle, scientists are looking beyond the endgame at the kind of next-generation vaccines needed for a vital stockpile to hit another epidemic hard and fast.

Research assistant Georgina Bowyer works on a vaccine for Ebola at The Jenner Institute in Oxford, southern England January 16, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Eddie Keogh

Determined not to lose scientific momentum that could make the world's first effective Ebola interventions a reality, researchers say the shots, as well as being proven to work, must be cheap, easy to handle in Africa and able to hit multiple virus strains.

That may mean shifting focus from the stripped-down, fast-tracked vaccine development ideas that have dominated the past six months, but it mustn't mean the field gets bogged down in complexities.

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There's an Ebola Vaccine in Africa. Now What?

Thu, 2015-01-29 03:44 — mike kraft

A scanning electron micrograph of the Ebola virus. The first large-scale trials of an Ebola vaccine are underway in Africa.(NIAID / Flickr)

Unprecedented: In four months, the Ebola vaccine has gone from concept to field trial. Success is not assured.

THE NATIONAL JOURNAL by Brian Resnick Jan. 28, 2015

Detailed description of the problems issues and procedures for fieldingand testing Ebola vaccines in West Africa.

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..."Without the (Ebola) virus circulating, there's no way to prove the vaccine is effective. At current infection rates, trial researchers would need to see 100 cases of Ebola over a four-month period to achieve statistical significance. That time frame may stretch, or fall apart altogether.

"It's a real dilemma," says Margaret Harris, an MD and spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. "It's extremely good news that the cases are coming down, but it does mean we may not have clear phase III data."

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An experimental Ebola vaccine looks promising in a human trial

Thu, 2015-01-29 01:22 — mike kraft

Vaccine was made by introducing an Ebola gene in a chimpanzee cold virus

THE VERGE by Arielle Duhaime-Ross Jan. 28, 2015

An Ebola vaccine produced using a chimpanzee common cold virus appears to be safe to use on humans, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Three different doses of vaccine were tested on healthy humans in the UK, and it was well-tolerated; it triggered high levels of antibody formation without also triggering serious side effects. But until the vaccine is tested in an area where an Ebola risk actually exists, it’s efficacy against the disease will remain a mystery.

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http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/28/7930947/ebola-vaccine-human-trials-results

A Monovalent Chimpanzee Adenovirus Ebola Vaccine — Preliminary Report

New England Journal of Medicine

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Ebola mutations could make some drugs ineffective

Wed, 2015-01-21 21:08 — mike kraft

BALTIMORE SUN by Scott Dance Jan. 20, 2015

In the year since Ebola began spreading across West Africa, the virus has mutated in more than 600 ways that change it slightly from versions studied in labs and used to develop treatments, according to researchers at Fort Detrick. And 10 of the mutations could make some drugs used to treat the virus ineffective, they wrote in research published Tuesday.

The "genomic drift," as the scientists called it, could make agents similar to the experimental drug ZMapp unable to bind to the virus anymore.

While the changes affect only a tiny fraction of Ebola's genome, they offer new lessons about the virus that might not have been learned because of the wide scope of the outbreak, larger than all others combined
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-ebola-mutation-20150120-story.html

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Common Generic Drug May Cure Ebola

Sat, 2015-01-17 21:13 — mike kraft

PHARMACY TIMES by Monica V. Mahoney, Pharms D, -BCPS-AQ ID Jan. 15, 2015

Monica V. Mahoney, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID

Several antibody-mediated, antiviral-focused, and vaccine-derived approaches are currently being investigated, but a major setback to many of these modalities is the time it takes to produce the interventions.

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Fast track development of Ebola Vaccines

Thu, 2015-01-15 21:44 — mike kraft

Principles and target product criteria

THE CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DESEASE AND POLICY Jan 12, 2015

The unprecedented morbidity and mortality from the 2013- 2015 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa has challenged every aspect of our global ability to effectively detect, respond to, and control such a rapidly emerging infectious disease crisis.

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Magic Blood? Emory's Ebola Plasma Bank

Thu, 2015-01-15 14:33 — mike kraft

NBC NEWS by Maggie Fox Jan. 14, 2015
Cup by cup, Emory University is collecting bags of liquid gold from the small club of American Ebola survivors.

They're collecting the plasma as part of an experiment to see if transfusing blood from people who have lived through the horrific infection can save the newly ill. Many of the survivors have been given this so-called convalescent plasma, but no one knows if it's actually helping.

"The protocol allows us to collect and transfuse convalescent plasma from U.S. Ebola survivors," says Dr. Anne Winkler, the Emory pathologist overseeing the study. "This is a completely voluntary process."

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Probe of Ebola burial practices pinpoints risks, triggers changes

Wed, 2015-01-14 21:00 — mike kraft

CENTER FOR DISEASE POLICY AND RESEARCH by Lisa Schnirring Jan. 13, 2015

An early September assessment of burial practices in some of Sierra Leone's Ebola hot spots revealed a host of problems that were probably helping fuel ongoing virus transmission in the country, experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Sierra Leone's health ministry reported today.

The team conducted its first assessment in three high-risk areas, focusing on burial practices, cemetery management, and adherence to recommended practices. Then they looked at the issues again the following month on a broader scale ahead of the Sierra Leone government's national rollout of standard procedures for safe and dignified burials. They published their findings in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

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http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/01/probe-ebola-burial-practices-pinpoints-risks-triggers-changes

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Broad Institute analyzes Ebola genomes

Wed, 2015-01-14 16:39 — mike kraft

MIT THE TECH by Jennifer F. Switzer Jan. 14, 2015

CAMBRIDGE , MA-- At the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in a lab run by accomplished computational geneticist Pardis Sabeti ’97, researchers have collaborated with institutions in the U.S. and abroad to sequence and analyze more than 99 Ebola virus genomes collected by fellow scientists in Sierra Leone. They are on the lookout for mutations that could aid in developing new treatment options for Ebola, or that could serve as indications that the virus is evolving to become more deadly.

Contained within the virus’s 19,000 base-pair genome, the team has found more than 300 genetic changes that separate the 2014 Ebola virus from its predecessors. Of interest is one particular cluster of mutations which, having outlasted other genetic variations, could possibly be conferring some sort of genetic advantage to the virus ebola patients for sequencing.

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http://tech.mit.edu/V134/N62/ebola.htm

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Ebola Clue Lurks in 10 Million Zambian Bats

Tue, 2015-01-13 22:58 — mike kraft

BLOOMBERG by Matthew Hill Jan. 12, 2015

At 4:50 a.m. at the Kasanka National Park in northern Zambia, tourists watch from a platform in a tree as the sound of millions of wings accompanies the sunrise.

Straw-coloured Fruit Bats fly in Kasanka National Park, Zambia. Photographer: Fabian von Poser/Getty Images