Measles is back. A major measles outbreak in the UK and regional cases in the US are raising concerns about a resurgence of the vaccine preventable disease in regions where the disease had been virtually eliminated. US News (US) reports, “Health officials within the US are monitoring at least one measles outbreak and warning of potential exposures to the disease, as cases have cropped up on both sides of the country and amid a rash of infections in the United Kingdom. The US is no stranger to measles cases, though these incidents come amid concerns about vaccine hesitancy and lowered immunity leaving people at risk…” Forbes (US) reports, “with childhood vaccine hesitancy—or simply outright refusal—on the rise in the UK, US and Europe, the problem is likely to worsen…. The spike in cases [in the UK] is fueled by vaccine hesitancy towards the measles, mumps and rubella shot…. the more people forego childhood immunizations, the greater the chances infectious diseases such as measles stage a comeback as we’re witnessing today. The now persistent problem of the return of vaccine-preventable diseases is a direct result of the steady increase in vaccine hesitancy lately.”
If You Are in a Hurry
- Read Hillary H. Carter and Thomas J. Bollyky in Think Global Health on optimism for strengthening global health security.
- Read a commentary in Health Affairs on lessons learned in the African COVID response that should inform global health planning.
- Read The Lancet on rollout of a dengue vaccine program in Brazil.
- Read Health Policy Watch on a preprint study that shows the lifesaving impact of COVID vaccines in Europe.
- Read Euro News on the start of the first ever Phase 1 trial of a vaccine against the potential pandemic pathogen Nipah virus.
- Read Citizen on new ways of preventing malaria cases in pregnant women in Kenya.
- Read Science on studying other coronaviruses to help understand SARS-CoV-2
Call to Strengthen Global Health Security
Hillary H. Carter and Thomas J. Bollyky write in Think Global Health (US), “At the intersection of health security and diplomacy where we work, a focused effort is beginning to yield tangible benefits on intertwined issues. If we can build on that progress, it could help improve lives and livelihoods in communities all around the world in the years to come…. To drive progress to improve human and environmental health in 2024 and beyond, three words—lead, leverage, and elevate—must be transformed from buzzwords to action…. If cooperation, coordination, collaboration, and communication are the cornerstones of efforts to strengthen global health security in 2024 and beyond, diplomacy can harness humanity’s collective potential to meet the health security challenges of the days and years ahead.”
Learning from the COVID Response in Africa
In a commentary in Health Affairs (US) four medical anthropologist look at what can be learned from the COVID response in Africa to inform global health going forward. Among their findings the authors note the contrast between early commentaries in media in high income countries “predicting catastrophic outcomes” in Africa and the reality. “This contrast has catalysed renewed calls for efforts toward decolonizing global health, questioning received assumptions, and the tendency to a stigmatizing gaze. Furthermore, the lack of ventilators and oxygen and delays in access to personal protective equipment and then vaccines on the continent underscored longstanding structural inequities and focused attention on the effects of intellectual property protections and the privileging of high-income countries in the structuring of innovation systems. African leaders in regional and international institutions of global health spoke in interviews of the need for increasing continental capacity for production of medical commodities and for greater self-reliance.” The authors conclude, “An ability to rethink one-size-fits-all approaches to policy directives in pandemics and strengthen decision making at national and regional levels seems a priority for future pandemic governance. The discussions on governance taking place as part of the Pandemic Treaty negotiations are inevitably being shaped by reflections on lessons from COVID-19. It is critical that consideration is also given to shifting power in pandemics, such as to include a greater diversity of voice and experience. This is an essential part of efforts toward greater equity that considers social justice and a rethinking of pandemic preparedness ‘for the real world.’”
Cholera Cases Soar Globally
UN News reports, “The world enters 2024 with soaring cases of cholera globally, with over 667,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths last year… Eastern and southern African nations are among the worst affected, accounting for about 75 per cent of the fatalities and a third of the cases, as of 15 January, according to UN Children’s Fund… The outbreaks were the deadliest in Malawi, in southern Africa, and Haiti, in the Caribbean.”
Climate Change Impact on Health in the Americas
An editorial in The Lancet Regional health: Americas (UK) argues, “Data from the World Bank projects that 21 million people could die as a result of a warmer climate by 2050 from just five health risks: extreme heat, stunting, diarrhoea, malaria, and dengue; the last two a direct consequence of changes in vector distribution in response to climate change. We have already started to see the effects, with the expansion of dengue to temperate climates in Europe, the USA, and South America in a stark reminder that climate change is not just about melting ice caps and rising sea levels—it's about the real, tangible impact on the lives of everyday people…. The time for empty promises and symbolic gestures has long passed. In the absence of decisive action, we risk witnessing a public health crisis of unprecedented proportions, with devastating social and economic ramifications. We should all be worried and demand more than diplomatic niceties. It is time for a commitment to change, with policies that prioritise the wellbeing of people over political expediency to give the American people and the rest of the world a glimpse of hope.”
Brazil Starts Dengue Vaccine Program
As outbreaks of dengue fever continue in countries around the globe, The Lancet (UK) reports, “Brazil plans to vaccinate millions of people against dengue after becoming the first country to incorporate Qdenga, manufactured by Japan's Takeda Pharma, into its public health system. Infection by dengue virus, transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitos, has surged in recent years in Brazil, with many blaming higher temperatures and prolonged rainy seasons. Data from WHO show that Brazil registered close to 3 million cases in 2023, of more than 5 million cases globally.” The Brazilian Report (Brazil) notes the Ministry of Health will “focus its upcoming first-ever dengue vaccination campaign on a subgroup of children and teens aged 6 to 16 due to the low quantity of jabs supplied by the Takeda pharmaceutical company.”
Cape Verde Certified Malaria Free
All Africa (Mauritius) reports WHO “has certified Cabo Verde as a malaria-free country, marking a significant achievement in global health. With this announcement, Cabo Verde joins the ranks of 43 countries and 1 territory that WHO has awarded this certification. Cabo Verde is the third country to be certified in the WHO African region, joining Mauritius and Algeria which were certified in 1973 and 2019 respectively. Malaria burden is the highest on the African continent, which accounted for approximately 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of related deaths in 2021.”
COVID Vaccines Saved 1.4 Million European Lives
Health Policy Watch (Switzerland) reports, “COVID-19 vaccines reduced deaths due to the pandemic by at least 57%, saving more than 1.4 million lives in the WHO European Region between December 2020 and March 2023, according to a report published in medRxiv, a pre-print platform…” WHO Europe’s Hans Kluge “warned of a ‘ticking time bomb’ post-pandemic, due to health budget cutbacks, a depleted health workforce and reduced pathogen surveillance at a time when COVID is resurging. His remarks coincided with a warning by WHO’s Pan American Health Organization that COVID-19 case in the Americas have doubled in just the past week. Read the preprint.
JN.1 Becomes Dominant COVID Variant as Cases Increase in Many Countries
Omicron sub-variant JN.1 appears to be the dominant strain of the virus globally as cases rise in a number of countries. Health Policy Watch (Switzerland) reports, “Although many people are carrying the virus and CDC data shows that US COVID-19 hospitalizations have continued to increase in the last two months, JN.1 has not caused the surge of hospitalizations seen in Omicron. This is also the case in other countries, including Israel, where it was first discovered, according to Cyrille Cohen, the head of the field of life sciences and medicine for the Israel Science Foundation and a professor at Bar-Ilan University. He said the country is seeing 10 to 20 cases of severe COVID-19 disease in hospitals on any given day, compared to as many as 1,400 two years ago. At the same time, studies are starting to show that the updated COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna and others are eliciting antibodies against JN.1 – at least in vitro, according to Cohen.”
Global Times (China) reports China is expected to see a “mild spike” of COVDI cases around upcoming festivals and the China CDC noted, “the country has seen increasing infections with the JN.1 strain.”
Sinovac Halts COVID Vaccine Production
Global Times (China) reports, “Sinovac Biotech, one of the major inactivated vaccine manufactures in China, has reportedly halted COVID-19 vaccine production. The company did not confirm the news but industry observers believe it is a response to falling market demand…. Sinovac Biotech's decision to suspend production of their COVID-19 vaccines is a response to what is believed to be falling market demand, and there is no need for undue alarm or exaggeration, Shao Yiming, an immunologist at the China CDC, also one of the chief medical advisors for the research and development of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines, told the Global Times on Thursday.”
Nipah Virus Vaccine Trial Starts
Euro News (Belgium) reports, “Scientists have launched the first-in-human trial to test a vaccine to protect people against the Nipah virus. This zoonotic pathogen, which can be transmitted from animals to humans, has been responsible for outbreaks in South and Southeast Asia…. The virus has a high mortality rate, estimated at 40 per cent to 75 per cent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A vaccine could bring this rate down….” Nipah virus is a priority pandemic virus and the trial PI is quoted: This vaccine trial is an important milestone in identifying a solution that could prevent local outbreaks occurring, while also helping the world prepare for a future global pandemic.”
Preventing More Cases of Maternal Malaria in Kenya
Citizen (Kenya) reports, “An innovative antibiotic drug could be the key to preventing malaria transmission among pregnant women living with HIV. Scientists recommend that daily doses of co-trimoxazole alongside anti-malarial drug dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine can prevent transmission of the killer disease among HIV+ expectant women living in Malaria-endemic regions. The development follows a study published in The Lancet by researchers from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences and the Malawi University of Science and Technology….The trial found that pregnant women who received the combination of monthly dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine to daily co-trimoxazole had 68% less Malaria during pregnancy than women who received the standard of care with daily co-trimoxazole alone.”
Reformulating Flu Vaccines: Easier Said than Done
Helen Branswell reports in STAT (US) on the difficulties of reformulating flu vaccines after WHO and some natinal regulators “urged influenza vaccine manufacturers to drop the component known as B/Yamagata from flu vaccines as quickly as possible, citing the fact that this lineage of flu B viruses appears to have been snuffed out during the COVID-19 pandemic….While some experts have claimed that this transition should be doable in time for next fall’s Northern Hemisphere flu vaccination campaigns, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, an organization that represents vaccine manufacturers and other pharmaceutical entities, is calling for a longer lead time for the shift, saying it will take flu vaccine makers until the 2025-2026 Northern Hemisphere cycle to be able to make the change across the board. The Southern Hemisphere flu vaccines would follow in the 2026 winter, the IFPMA said.
Looking to Other Coronaviruses to Better Understand SARS-CoV-2
Jon Cohen reports in Science (US) on planned research into four coronaviruses that cause common colds. “Some groups are reexamining how the viruses leapt from animals to people, in part to understand how SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19’s cause, may have emerged. Studying the four may also illuminate whether other coronaviruses discovered in wild and domesticated animals pose a threat to humanity. And some scientists are exploring how immune responses to these four overlap and interact with the response to SARS-CoV-2…. The four viruses currently show up each fall and winter, accounting for up to 30% of the colds we endure. But all may once have caused more serious disease, suggesting to some virologists that they offer a hopeful glimpse of COVID-19’s future.” Spoiler alert: Some virologists don’t agree with this assessment.
Reverse Zoonoses
Nature (UK) reports on the “phenomenon of animals catching diseases from humans, called reverse zoonoses, [that] affects species around the world — from mussels contaminated with hepatitis A virus and cheetahs that come down with influenza A, to the parasite Giardia duodenalis passed on to African painted dogs (Lycaon pictus) and tuberculosis transmitted to Asian elephants. But because of their evolutionary closeness to humans, great apes tend to be most vulnerable to our diseases.” In some part of Africa, “respiratory pathogens such as human rhinovirus C and human metapneumovirus have been the leading chimp killers for more than 35 years, accounting for almost 59% of deaths from a known cause.” |
