The Medical Minute: Protecting Against Measles
Penn State Health“The only way to prevent measles reliably is to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Catharine Paules, an infectious diseases physician at Penn State Health.
“The only way to prevent measles reliably is to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Catharine Paules, an infectious diseases physician at Penn State Health.
Rumi Chunara, assistant professor of computer science and engineering and global public health at New York University, has won a Grand Challenges Explorations grant—an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Chunara will pursue an innovative global health and development research project focused on smart immunization targeting in Pakistan using artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile tools.
Twenty-five counties across the country have been identified to be most at risk for a measles outbreak due to low-vaccination rates compounded by a high volume of international travel, according to an analysis by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Johns Hopkins University.
A new analysis co-led by The Johns Hopkins University identified 25 United States counties that are most likely to experience measles outbreaks in 2019. The analysis combined international air travel volume, non-medical exemptions from childhood vaccinations, population data and reported measles outbreak information.
Chlamydia is the most prevalent bacterial STI in the world. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers, in partnership with colleagues at sites in the US, Europe and Australia, will receive up to $10.7 million over five years from the NIH to move closer to identifying a vaccine.
A country’s progress towards measles elimination can be mapped on a “canonical path” that in turn can guide vaccination strategies, according to a study from scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A new HIV vaccine delivery strategy appears to enhance the protective immune response in a preclinical model. Scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have discovered that delivering an HIV vaccine in small doses over a series of days leads to a stronger immune response than when the same vaccine is given all at once.
Australian doctors are prescribing antivirals for people with the flu who may not benefit, putting patients at risk of unnecessary side effects and potentially increasing the risk of antimicrobial resistance to these medications, researchers from the University of Adelaide have found.
Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutch research, with links for additional background and media contacts.
Millions of people are infected with hepatitis B every year. Hundreds of thousands die. And small children are particularly at risk.
Funds from the National Institutes of Health will accelerate the chase for one of medicine’s most elusive goals: a universal influenza vaccine.
Children and older adults are considered to be at higher risk for contracting measles. In this advisory, Michael Ben-Aderet, MD, associate director of Hospital Epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai, shares what parents need to know about measles, including risk factors and tips for preventing it.
A new technology developed by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Yoshihiro Kawaoka may make H3N2 vaccine development a bit easier. In Nature Microbiology today [April 29, 2019], Kawaoka and his team describe a new cell line that enables better growth of H3N2 for vaccine use. The virus is also far less likely to mutate during production using this cell line, improving the chances of a match between vaccine and circulating influenza viruses.
University of Alabama at Birmingham infectious disease and primary care experts urge the public to know their vaccination status and educate themselves on the dangers of the measles, as continued outbreaks in more states are anticipated in the coming weeks. Today, the Tennessee Department of Health reported to the Alabama Department of Public Health that an individual with a confirmed measles case traveled through Alabama on April 11 and made two stops during the infectious period, raising the likelihood that measles could appear in the state.
Research teams at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, led by Associate Professor Scott Pegan, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control, led by Éric Bergeron, have successfully discovered a single-dose replicon particle vaccine that provides complete protection against the Crimean-Congo Hemorraghic Fever (CCHF) virus in mice.
What: Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2019 Meeting When: April 27-30, 2019 Where: Baltimore Convention Center (1 W. Pratt St, Baltimore, Maryland 21201)
Professor Joanne Turner, Ph.D., the Vice President for Research at Texas Biomedical Research Institute, will serve as the new Executive Director of the Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio.
Now research conducted in mice offers new hope that neonatal herpes infections might eventually be avoidable by stimulating an immune response in mothers.
The first malaria vaccine will be tested in a pilot study beginning this April in three countries with a high burden of the disease among children, according to researchers leading the trial from UNC Project-Malawi. There, malaria is the main cause of illness and death among children under age 5.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America Dispels Dangerous Measles Vaccine Myths
A vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of childhood illness and mortality in the developing world, sharply reduced the incidence of serious pneumococcal disease among children in a large Kenyan community after it was introduced in 2011, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Researchers in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Tokyo have discovered a mechanism by which liver cells intrinsic resistance to diverse RNA viruses is regulated. These results have implications for for cellular responses to hepatitis, dengue and Zika.
Researchers developed a novel recombinant vaccine called NIPRAB that shows robust immunization against Nipah virus in animal models and may be effective against other viruses in the same family.
Georgetown University faculty offer expertise for journalists seeking interviews in a variety of subjects related to Ebola. Topics include WHO, Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), International Health Regulations, infectious disease control and treatment, vaccine development, clinical trials, and global health security and law.
Human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection. HPV causes more than 40,000 cases of cancer in the United States each year.
Researchers at Mount Sinai have developed a novel approach to cancer immunotherapy, injecting immune stimulants directly into a tumor to teach the immune system to destroy it and other tumor cells throughout the body.
Five facts about allergies to vaccines, pulled together by two McMaster University physicians.
Research conducted in mice suggests the food additive tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ)—found in many common products from frozen meat to crackers and fried foods—suppresses the immune response the body mounts when fighting the flu.
A research team that includes Northern Arizona University chemistry professor Naomi Lee received an NIH grant to develop a vaccine that can blunt the effects of drugs by triggering the patient's immune system.
S&T intensified vaccine research efforts in collaboration with the USDA in Nov. 2018. The African Swine Fever Task Force was born, based out of S&T’s Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
The Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was awarded $17.5 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to fund the IGS Genome Center for Infectious Diseases (GCID) for another five years.
The rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is high among young minority gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men despite the availability of a vaccine that can prevent the infection, a Rutgers School of Public Health study found.
Fighting antibiotic resistance is a never-ending struggle. By the time a new antibiotic is tested and proven effective, the bacteria it’s meant to fight are often already developing resistance to it.
The McCombs School of Business and Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin announce a collaboration with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) to launch a research project, “Improving Adult Vaccine Delivery by Optimizing Clinical and Health IT Processes in Austin/Travis County, Texas (VACOPT).”
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), along with Profectus Biosciences, Inc., the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc., and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), have been awarded up to $24.5 million to advance treatments for the highly lethal henipaviruses, Nipah and Hendra.
Social media has given those espousing anti-vaccination sentiments an effective medium to spread their message. An analysis of a viral Facebook campaign against a pediatric practice reveals that anti-vaccination arguments center around four distinct themes that can appeal to diverse audiences.
When flu season peaks after mid-winter, tens of thousands of influenza cases and hundreds of deaths can likely be avoided if older adults wait until October to get their flu immunization, a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analysis reveals.
Each year there are nearly 11 million cases of typhoid, a disease that is spread through contaminated food, drink and water. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are leading an international consortium that is studying the impact of a typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) in an effort to accelerate introduction of the vaccine in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia where there is a high burden of typhoid.
Currently, very few vaccines can be administered orally. Using a novel imaging method that captures all of the immune cells’ niches within an organ, Weizmann Institute scientists investigated the training process for the cells involved in immunity, developing insights that could lead to the design of more effective oral vaccines.