Ebola vaccine shows long-term protection over 2 years
A nurse administers an Ebola vaccine in Monrovia, Liberia, as part of a 2015 clinical research study. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
An Ebola vaccine made by Merck has protected a group of volunteers for two years — the longest it has been shown to protect against the disease, according to a study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The context: "A fast-acting, long-lasting vaccine given in a single dose would be an effective tool for controlling dangerous Ebola outbreaks," STAT's Helen Branswell reports.
Yes, but: The vaccine targets only one strain of Ebola, known as Zaire, and samples from additional trials will be needed to support these findings.
What's next: Merck is looking to apply for FDA approval of the candidate vaccine this year.
Stay tuned for: The lead author of the paper and an infectious disease specialist, Angela Huttner and her team have collected blood samples from volunteers in Geneva, Switzerland to see how the vaccine performs after three years, but they haven't analyzed them yet.
Huttner told STAT: “Our hypothesis is that the values we’re seeing at two years shouldn’t change too much at three, four, and five years.”
Take note: Some experts in the industry believe a two-dose vaccine, like the ones being developed by Janssen Vaccines and Prevention BV, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, may be better equipped at offering long-term protection.
The E.U. and U.K. want to be front and center on AI research
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits an engineering training facility in Birmingham. Photo: Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images
The E.U. and U.K. both announced major investments in artificial intelligence research this week, with more than 50 tech companies contributing to a £1 billion deal in the U.K., and the European Commission announcing it would be allocating €1.5 billion to AI research until 2020.
The big picture: The U.K.'s deal, as detailed in a government press release, will include funding for "8,000 specialist computer science teachers, 1,000 government-funded AI PhDs by 2025," and development for a "prestigious global Turing Fellowship" program to attract top talent. Per the release, the U.K. will also be developing "a world-leading Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation," to emphasize ethical standards with AI research. The E.U.'s deal also includes laying out clear ethical guidelines by the end of 2018.
Romaine lettuce outbreak is a virulent one in an already busy 2018
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's using whole genome testing and on-the-ground investigation to try to determine why the current E. coli outbreak from romaine lettuce is more virulent than normal — about half of all people affected have been hospitalized .
What's new: The E. coli outbreak stemming from romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Ariz., has spread to 19 states and infected at least 84 people, of whom 42 have been hospitalized with 9 suffering from the dangerous hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to a CDC update today.
Threat level: Matthew Wise, deputy branch chief of CDC's Outbreak Response, tells Axios the CDC has confirmed the pathogen is E. coli 157:H7, which is part of the Shiga toxin-producing strain, but they don't know why so many patients need to be hospitalized.
"157:H7 can be a very severe illness, but [50%] is a much higher hospitalization [rate] than we expect," Wise says. "We're doing whole genome sequencing to see if there's anything unique or unusual in this particular strain."
Benjamin Chapman, food safety specialist and associate professor of North Carolina State University, tells Axios that normally the 157:H7 has about a 25%–30% hospitalization rate. He says the higher rate now could be because the strain "picked up genes from other bacteria which cause toxins [in] us," during its normal evolutionary process.
The big question: This episode of E. coli 157:H7 is one of 7 main multistate foodborne outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella that CDC has investigated in 2018. While this appears high compared with 2017 (which had a total of 8 including listeria and cyclospora), it's too early to tell if this is a new trend for the year, Wise and Chapman both say.
Chapman says one reason it appears higher is that "we are getting better at connecting the dots, nationally." He says with new safety standards and systems to identify outbreaks, "food is probably safer now than it was for the last 50 years."
Looking ahead: Wise says the CDC is focused on improving via 2 programs:
An increase of funds to the state health departments so they can better track, report and halt outbreaks.
A transition to whole genome sequencing during outbreaks, which should enable officials to see which illness is spreading where. They've completed a similar program for listeria, and the program for salmonella and E. coli should be finished by late 2018–early 2019.
Some challenges facing the CDC:
New lack of cultures: Chapman says the state public health system encourages new testing called culture independent diagnostic tests (CIDTs), which can quickly identify pathogen DNA shards but uses up the stool sample that the federal investigators need to be cultured. "It's a challenge," Wise says, because clinicians want the faster CIDT results but "the whole system relies upon the health care facilities to culture the bacteria."
IG report: While not directly part of the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration was checked out by the Inspector General's office and its food recall program was found inefficient and ineffective.
