Seven years ago, the global public health community declared the eradication of rinderpest, a severe viral disease of cattle. But today, Bulgaria says it's dealing with an outbreak of ovine rinderpest. They are two different, but closely related, viruses. Here's some insight into what we know.
vaccine
We're possibly getting closer to saving thousands of newborns from a potentially nasty illness, and death. Novavax, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, states that it's reached a milestone in a clinical trial for the highly-anticipated vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
Vical continues to push its VCL-HB01 herpes vaccine through development. Larry Smith, Ph.D., the senior VP of Research, answers some questions about where things stand now and what to expect in the near future.
In spite of anti-vaccine efforts to scare parents, recent CDC data indicates that the overwhelming majority of children entering kindergarten are being appropriately immunized. Using data from 48 states and the District of Columbia, researchers found that a median of over 90 percent of kids are receiving the recommended vaccines.
An amazing new technology that uses silk to deliver vaccines just got a nice boost – to the tune of $6M – from Bill and Melinda Gates. Maybe with novel approaches like this, we'll finally see polio eradicated once and for all.
A third vaccine against herpes has entered the race, and it's gotten some rave reviews for its protection of guinea pigs. But it didn't so well with monkeys. Which is more important? Testing in humans will decide, but the answer won't be known for about two years.
While it appears we are on our way to losing the battle against antibiotic resistance, not all hope is lost for the fight against another sexually transmitted infection (STI) – Chlamydia.
Although many in the scientific and medical community were nervous when Andrew Wakefield's movie was released, we can all relax now. His slogan -- “The film that they don’t want you to see” -- seems to have backfired because ... virtually no one went to see it. Only 19,570 tickets sold and flimsy flick grossed just over $150,000 -- chump change in Hollywood.
A new study shows the rapid loss of protection against whooping cough among teens vaccinated with a booster shot. This decline, which takes place over less than four years, helps explain the recent outbreaks in California and Minnesota, and shows that a new vaccination approach is needed.
A new study in JAMA Oncology proves that a type of the human papillomavirus, known to cause cervical and anal cancer, also causes cancers of the throat and head and neck. The proof of this revelation came via a simple, yet elegant method.
A recent Boston Globe article about flu vaccinations raised the notion that those who receive a flu shot every year to have less protection than those who get it less frequently. What does science make of this? It's hard to say. But we say that some protection is better than none at all.
A new vaccine against malaria, a scourge especially in sub-Saharan Africa, shows that a series of three shots offers about 50 percent protection. It's one small-to-medium sized step toward a truly protective malaria vaccine, which would amount to saving many thousands of lives in the near term.