Human capital gaps in vaccine development: an issue for global vaccine development and global health.

Obama vs McCain on global health

Even though extreme containment and mitigation strategies were implemented by numerous governments around the world to slow down the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the number of critically ill patients and fatalities keeps rising. This crisis has highlighted the socioeconomic disparities of health care systems within and among countries. As new CoVID policies and responses are implemented to lessen the impact of the virus, it is imperative (1) to consider additional mitigation strategies critical for the development of effective countermeasures, (2) to promote long-term policies and strict regulations of the trade of wildlife and live animal markets, and (3) to advocate for necessary funding and investments in global health, specifically for the prevention of and response to natural and manmade pandemics. This document considers some of these challenges.

Cellular immune responses play critical roles in the control of viral infection. However, the immune protection against avian viral diseases (AVDs), a major challenge to poultry industry, is yet mainly evaluated by measuring humoral immune response though antibody-independent immune protection was increasingly evident in the development of vaccines against some of these diseases. The evaluation of cellular immune response to avian viral infection has long been neglected due to limited reagents and methods. Recently, with the availability of more immunological reagents and validated approaches, the evaluation of cellular immunity has become feasible and necessary for AVD. Herein, we reviewed the methods used for evaluating T cell immunity in chickens following infection or vaccination, which are involved in the definition of different cellular subset, the analysis of T cell activation, proliferation and cytokine secretion, and in vitro culture of antigen-presenting cells (APC) and T cells. The pros and cons of each method were discussed, and potential future directions to enhance the studies of avian cellular immunity were suggested. The methodological improvement and standardization in analyzing cellular immune response in birds after viral infection or vaccination would facilitate the dissection of mechanism of immune protection and the development of novel vaccines and therapeutics against AVD.

Efficacy of Probiotics in Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Inovirus-associated vectors (IAVs) are derived from bacterial filamentous viruses (phages). As vaccine carriers, they have elicited both cellular and humoral responses against a variety of pathogens causing infectious diseases and other non-infectious diseases. By displaying specific antigen epitopes or proteins on their coat proteins, IAVs have merited much study, as their unique abilities are exploited for widespread vaccine development.Areas covered: The architectural traits of filamentous viruses and their derivatives, IAVs, facilitate the display of specific antigenic peptides which induce antibody production to prevent or curtail infection. Inoviruses provide a foundation for cost-efficient large-scale specific phage display. In this paper, the development of different applications of inovirus-based phage display vaccines across a broad range of pathogens and hosts is reviewed. The references cited in this review were selected from established databases based on the authors’ knowledge of the study subject.Expert commentary: The importance of phage-display technology has been recently highlighted by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 awarded to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter. Furthermore, the symbiotic nature of filamentous viruses infecting intestinal F+ E. coli strains offers an attractive platform for the development of novel vaccines that stimulate mucosal immunity

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs and spreads to other organs of the body through the haematogenous route. It is one of the ten major causes of mortality worldwide. India has the highest incidence of new- and multidrug-resistant (MDR) - TB cases in the world. Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is the vaccine commonly available against TB. BCG does offer some protection against serious forms of TB in childhood but its protective effect wanes with age. Many new innovative strategies are being trailed for the development of effective and potent vaccines like mucosal- and epitope-based vaccines, which may replace BCG or boost BCG responses. The use of nanotechnology for diagnosis and treatment of TB is also in the pipeline along with many other vaccines, which are under clinical trials. Further, in-silico models were developed for finding new drug targets and designing drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). These models offer the benefit of computational experiments which are easy, inexpensive and give quick results. This review will focus on the available treatments and new approaches to develop potent vaccines for the treatment of TB.

Vaccines have led to some of the greatest public health achievements in history, including the worldwide eradication of naturally occurring smallpox and the near eradication of polio. In addition, vaccines have contributed to significant reduction in the disease burden imposed by measles, mumps, hepatitis, influenza, diphtheria, and many other infections. The science of vaccinology is dynamic; it unfolds as technology enables scientists to continue to create safer and more effective vaccines. Safety evaluation is integrated into every step of the vaccine research and development process. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the lead institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research and development of vaccines against emerging and reemerging infectious diseases (Text Box 1). Together with partners throughout the federal government, in academia, and in the public and private sectors, NIAID-supported scientists have helped develop many important life-saving vaccines against diseases such as invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumococcal pneumonia, meningitis, pertussis, influenza, chickenpox, and hepatitis A and B. Use of these and other vaccines worldwide has made significant contributions to public health by reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with many dreaded infectious diseases (Text Box 2). Discovery, development, and evaluation of vaccines are performed in multiple stages as promising ideas are developed into potential vaccine candidates. Developing a vaccine usually involves collaboration between federal agencies, academia, and industry. The NIAID's role in vaccine development and testing extends from basic research through clinical evaluation (Fig 1). FIGURE 1 Stages of vaccine research, development, and evaluation. Safety evaluation is integral to every stage of the product-development pathway. This pathway begins with basic research, which involves understanding the pathogen's mechanism of action, the interaction between pathogen and host, and the host response. Target identification entails studying the biological plausibility of particular strategies for creating … Address correspondence to Richard L. Gorman, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Research, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, 6610 Rockledge Dr, MSC 6604, Bethesda, MD 20892-6604. E-mail: gormanr{at}niaid.nih.gov

Context: Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is an important growing global health issue which needs urgent addressal. Judicious use of antibiotics is the only solution to curb this problem. Awareness of this fact among UG students, who are the future physicians is extremely vital. Aims: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) related to antibiotic resistance and usage in UG students. Settings and Design: cross sectional, questionnaire based survey. Methods and Material: The questionnaire was distributed to a batch of 86 medical students in their second year of MBBS, whereby their KAP regarding antibiotic use and resistance was assessed by a five point Likert scale, whose responses ranged from „strongly agree‟ to „strongly disagree,‟ and „always‟ to „never. Some questions were of true and false type. Statistical analysis: The data was analyzed by using simple descriptive statistics to generate frequencies, percentages and proportions. Wherever it was relevant, the Chi-square test was used to determine any significant difference. Results: Indiscriminate antimicrobial use leads to the emergence of the growing problem of resistance was known to all n=86(100%) of the participants. The number of respondents who agreed that ABR was an important and a serious global public health issue was 83(96.51%).Ninety four per cent (n = 81) of the respondents were aware that bacteria were not responsible for causing colds and flu. Conclusions: Our study provides an important insight regarding the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding antibiotic resistance and usage among the future doctors, which can be considered, in order to plan for an effective undergraduate curriculum.

This chapter examines the vulnerability of Asian countries to the current AIDS crisis in the context of social, economic and environmental factors that facilitate the emergence and global spread of new infectious diseases. As half of the world population and the majority of the poor people in the world live in Asia, the status of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases in this part of the world has profound implications for global public health. This chapter argues that the new wave of economic globalization should be accompanied by an improvement in global public health. The imbalance of wealth and resource distribution in the world has been a critical source of concern for international security and stability, yet the potentially disastrous consequence of the imbalance in global public health has not received adequate attention from the world community. If the current AIDS crisis in Asia is not rapidly resolved, it could lead to an unparalleled social and economic disaster. Following a brief review of the current status of infectious disease, this chapter focuses on the analysis of public and private efforts to prevent and control their global spread. It suggests actions and organizations that could address the imbalance in global health and outlines the logic for global vaccine development by which both developed and developing countries collaborate to mutual benefit.KeywordsWest Nile VirusAvian InfluenzaWorld Trade OrganizationSevere Acute Respiratory SyndromeGlobal Public HealthThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Overcoming serious infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that threaten human life around the world is an important issue in global health. Most of these diseases are concentrated in developing and low-income countries, and in order to reinforce drug discovery activities, pharmaceutical companies are actively promoting industry-academia-government partnerships and utilizing funds to stimulate global health activities. In this presentation, three examples of our drug discovery activities are introduced. The first is participation in the Booster project led by Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) aimed at creating therapeutic agents for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, an effort supported by the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund. As domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies participate in the project and provide their own compounds, it is possible to obtain structure-activity relationship information in a short period of time and improve compound potency. We collaborated with DNDi to create a lead compound from one hit compound, and contributed to further enhancement of its activity. The remaining two are collaborations with academia for the creation of new therapeutic agents or vaccines: a joint research project with Hokkaido University Research Center for Zoonosis Control for emerging viral diseases, and a collaboration with Nagasaki University in malaria. In each case, our researchers were based at the university, establishing close working collaborations with the university researchers. Novel solutions for serious infectious diseases are expected by the combination of the high-level basic research capabilities of academia and the drug discovery know-how and original compound libraries possessed by pharmaceutical companies.

International collaboration to promote global health: The 2017 Belt and Road Initiative Global Health International Congress & 2017 Chinese Preventive Medicine Association—Chinese Society on Global Health Annual Meeting

In the age of globalization, infectious diseases can easily cross national boundaries and regional epidemic can easily develop into an international crisis. Therefore, the international community is paying more attention to global health issues than before. Globalization of infectious diseases compels the international community to consider the reasonable and effective governance of public health, and the outdated International Health Regulations (IHR) in 1969 becomes the target of revision. The revised IHR has in many ways fulfilled the need of the international community to deal with the serious public health threats, but it also raised the sovereignty concern in some member states. This article first addresses the relationship between the multilateral agreement and the state sovereignty, and secondly, introduces the impacts of multilateral agreements on global public health and the concern of the member states when the revised IHR enters into force. Finally the paper presents the coping measures of the Taiwanese government.

Timely vaccination helps people to live a healthy life with no infectious diseases. Agents in vaccines are derived by inactivation of microbes, which may also contain subunits, e.g. parts of surface antigens, or toxins. In the past years, a number of new biotechnological methods have been added to the development of vaccines that have revolutionized the conventional practices. Biotechnology and its development and use have led to immense diversification of the clinical outcomes and strategies of healthcare. The occurrence of contagious diseases has decreased in the contemporary world; non infectious diseases on the other hand are on the increase and they present a significant burden to the healthcare systems of the world at large. Biotechnology is providing solutions that are promising to the prevention of the infectious diseases and to the features of non-infectious diseases [1]. It is critical to comprehend the importance of vaccines before discussing the importance of biotechnology in vaccine development. Although there is an improvement in medicine, some of the deadliest pathogens in the world such as malaria and HIV are yet to have vaccines in place [2]. Vaccines are biological agents that are used to boost the immune system against bacterial or viral infections, and as a result, prevent diseases proactively. They usually include inactivated pathogens or certain antigenic constituents, usually those of surface-binding proteins of the pathogens. These antigens, when introduced into the body, induce the immune system to react to the respective pathogen efficiently equipping the body with defence against possible infections in future [1,2]. Biotechnological approaches such as genetic engineering and cell culture are contemporary technologies that have transformed vaccine production. Such techniques can be used to create vaccines which are easier to manufacture, less expensive and can produce more robust and sustained immunity. Prevention of infectious diseases and promotion of patient outcomes is the main aim of applying biotechnology in the development of vaccines [1]. They involve the insertion of desired genes into plants or body cells and the production of the encoded proteins. These genetically engineered vaccines make the body more immune even in situations when conventional vaccines and treatment methods have failed, and this leads to hope of recovery of serious and persistent illnesses. Biotechnology has played out in three main ways per majorly in generating specific monoclonal antibodies, application of cloned genes to produce antigens and synthesis of peptides which may be used as vaccines. Reverse vaccinology is one of the most important innovations in the field in which biotechnology holds a key position in changing the research on vaccines. Reverse vaccinology refers to the process of cloning and genome analysis of entire pathogenic genomes by applying bioinformatics tools in a proactive fashion with the intent of identifying targets that would be the basis of vaccines. DNA microarrays, proteomics and comparative genome analysis are functional genomic techniques used to discover virulence factors and promising vaccine targets. Although reverse vaccinology was originally developed to make MenB vaccines, this technology has now been applied to other bacterial vaccines, including Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae [3]. The antigens can be predicted using modern computational techniques without paying attention to their abundance or immunogenicity, which offers a more accurate and effective approach to developing vaccines. Biotechnology has further enhanced the quicker velocity in creating vaccines to emerging pathogens. As an example, the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the urgency to make vaccines as quickly as possible. Biotechnological tools helped develop effective vaccines in a several months, compared to traditional vaccine development which would have taken years to develop. Such technologies like mRNA vaccines, viral vectors vaccines and recombinant protein vaccines demonstrate how biotechnology can be used directly to offer new and effective responses during a crisis in the life of the people. In addition to infectious diseases, biotechnology has the prospects of employing non-infectious diseases like some types of cancers by developing therapeutic vaccines which induce immune responses against cancerous cells [2,3]. Biotechnology is a necessity of contemporary vaccinology. Its use in vaccine development can integrate the process of quick, accurate, and effective vaccine manufacturing and improve the health outcomes of the population at a global level. Biotechnology deployment in strategic innovation of vaccines is not only crucial in tackling the current infectious hazards, but also providing a remedy of the diseases that could not be treated before or controlled effectively. With an ever-growing development of scientific skills, biotechnology in vaccinology will have an increased role to play to make the global health issues safer, efficient, and comprehensive in prevention efforts.

Rigorous assessment of the cellular and molecular changes during infection typically requires isolation of specific immune cell subsets for downstream application. While there are numerous options for enrichment/isolation of cells from tissues, fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS) is accepted as a method that results in superior purification of a wide variety of cell types. Flow cytometry requires extensive fluidics and aerosol droplets can be generated during collection of target cells. Pathogens such as Francisella tularensis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Yersinia pestis, and SARS-CoV-2 require manipulation at biosafety level-3 (BSL-3). Due to the concern of potential aerosolization of these pathogens, use of flow cytometric-based cell sorting in these laboratory settings requires placement of the equipment in dedicated biosafety cabinets within the BSL-3. For many researchers, this is often not possible due to expense, space, or expertise available. Here we describe the safety validation and utility of a completely closed cell sorter that results in gentle, rapid, high purity, and safe sorting of cells on the benchtop at BSL-3. We also provide data demonstrating the need for cell sorting versus bead purification and the applicability of this technology for BSL-3 and potentially BSL-4 related infectious disease projects. Adoption of this technology will significantly expand our ability to uncover important features of the most dangerous infectious diseases leading to faster development of novel vaccines and therapeutics.

Global Health