The University of Texas has uncovered a vaccination that can protect against the fatal Nipah virus in as little as three days.
Digital Desk: Nipah is a zoonotic virus (one that spreads from animals to humans) that can be communicated through contaminated food or by direct contact with secretions. The virus has caused three outbreaks in the last four years in India, killing over 20 people, including a 12-year-old child from Kerala.
Nipah virus infection spreads through respiratory droplets, similar to Covid. It is, however, significantly more deadly, killing up to three-quarters of those infected. The World Health Organization has also named it one of the viruses most likely to cause the next pandemic (WHO).
The experimental vaccine was given to African green monkeys three to seven days before they were exposed to a strain of the Nipah virus.
According to the conclusions, all vaccinated monkeys were saved from lethal illness, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The experimental vaccine was found to be "safe, immunogenic, and effective at protecting the monkeys from a high dose of Nipah virus given shortly after immunization," according to Thomas W. Geisbert of the University of Texas Medical Branch's Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
"These investigations represent a promising first step toward demonstrating the vaccine's safety and possible efficacy in an outbreak situation. However, future research is needed to determine the minimum dose required for effectiveness and the duration of vaccine-induced immune responses."
There is currently no human vaccination that has been approved. While various preventive vaccines have shown promise in protecting animals against the fatal Nipah virus, most studies have only looked at protection after one month.
"Vaccines that can quickly impart protection in days rather than months are essential to contain and control epidemics," Geisbert added.
According to the Daily Mail, at least eight are now being tested on animals, including one developed by Oxford University.
The new vaccine employs a modified virus from the same family as rabies that does not induce symptoms. Instead, it serves as a vehicle for the innocuous protein to be delivered to the cells.
The protein is displayed on the surface of the cells once inside, and the immune system recognizes that it isn't supposed to be there. Antibodies and T-cells are released as part of the immunological response. According to the findings, the body then remembers this procedure to deal with the actual Nipah virus in the future.
The "fruit bat" has only been found as an animal host reservoir for the Nipah virus, which can then spread the disease to other species such as pigs, dogs, cats, and goats.
Nipah virus outbreaks are uncommon, with only about 700 cases documented since the virus was uncovered in Malaysia in 1999.
Despite this, the WHO considers the Nipah virus a "public health concern" since it infects many animals and causes severe sickness and death in humans.
Nipah is included alongside other deadly and dangerous diseases, including Ebola, Lassa fever, Zika, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and Rift Valley fever by the World Health Organization.
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