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- Attacked from the ship: it will take 1.5 years to create a vaccine against hantavirus
Attacked from the ship: it will take 1.5 years to create a vaccine against hantavirus
Gamalei Center specialists have a proven technology that can become the basis for creating a vaccine against hantavirus and related pathogens. It may take about a year and a half to develop, Alexander Gintsburg, the scientific director of the organization, told Izvestia. The outbreak of a deadly infection aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean was reported by WHO in early May. Three passengers died. The day before, it became known that the virus had reached Europe: a tourist who returned from this cruise was hospitalized in Zurich. According to experts, a new drug is really needed to protect against such infections, as pathogens will become more common due to increasing migration.
The Hantavirus vaccine
Russian scientists have the necessary knowledge to create a vaccine against hantavirus, but such developments have not yet been carried out, as they require significant financial resources, and the possible market for such a drug is too small. Nevertheless, work in this direction is necessary, Alexander Gintsburg, scientific director of the Gamalei National Research Center, told Izvestia.
— Perhaps this outbreak on an expensive cruise ship will make you pay attention to this problem and money will be allocated to create a vaccination system for at least epidemiological indications (if there is a threat of an outbreak of the disease. — Ed.), — said the specialist.
Various hemorrhagic fevers, including hantavirus, are regularly found in different parts of the world, including in Russia. About 5-7 thousand cases of infection are recorded annually. The causative agents of these infections are highly diverse: they have a different antigenic structure, interact with the host body in different ways and cause a different clinical picture. Depending on the type of virus, the disease can manifest itself as either severe renal syndrome or a pulmonary form, the scientist explained.
— If you create a vaccine, then not against one antigenic variant, but against five or seven of the most common ones at once. But research is needed to isolate these strains. The technology of virus-like particles has already been successfully applied to the rotavirus vaccine. This approach can be used to create a vaccine against hantavirus," said Alexander Ginzburg.
If an appropriate decision is made, the drug can be created in a year and a half, the scientist added.
According to WHO, human infection occurs mainly through contact with urine, faeces or saliva of infected rodents. In some cases, human—to-human transmission of the virus is also possible, as it has been recorded during previous outbreaks. This is a rare but serious disease that can be fatal.
"WHO currently assesses the risk to the global population from this event as low and will continue to monitor the epidemiological situation and update the risk assessment," the organization said in a statement.
The World Health Organization reported an outbreak of hantovirus infection in the open sea on May 4. The MV Hondius sailed from the Argentine city of Ushuaia on April 1. He was supposed to visit Antarctica, the South Atlantic, and end his journey in Cape Verde. At the end of the first week of sailing, the Dutch citizen showed signs of fever, and he died on April 11. His body, accompanied by his wife, was evacuated to South Africa, and the woman later died in a Johannesburg hospital. Subsequently, fever and shortness of breath manifested themselves in a British citizen, he was hospitalized. On May 2, a German citizen died on the ship, and her escorts and crew members began to show symptoms. On May 6, the Swiss authorities reported the discovery of an infection in a patient in Zurich. He recently returned from that cruise.
There are currently 146 people on board from 23 countries. The WHO reported that the number of infected has increased to eight people. The Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa, Aaron Motsoaledi, said that virologists in South Africa have recognized the hantavirus strain. According to him, this is the only strain out of 38 known that can be transmitted between humans.
Since the first publication, Rospotrebnadzor has been monitoring the development of the situation related to the registration of hantavirus on board a cruise ship, the agency said.
"Rospotrebnadzor systematically monitors the epidemiological situation in foreign countries and, in order to prevent the import of dangerous infectious diseases at all checkpoints, carries out sanitary and quarantine control in an enhanced mode, including using the Perimeter AIS to assess and minimize risks. In Russia, there are test systems for hantavirus," the press service said.
Through the channels of the WHO international health regulations, Rospotrebnadzor sent a request to the relevant department of the Netherlands, under whose flag the cruise ship is sailing, to provide the results of laboratory tests.
Why is this drug necessary?
According to immunologist Mikhail Bolkov, a vaccine against hantavirus and other pathogens of hemorrhagic fevers is really necessary, as such infections are likely to occur more frequently.
— The chances that an outbreak of hantavirus will develop into an epidemic are low, since it is not too easily transmitted and there is increased alertness to it. But the drug is needed because in a number of countries with high population density and active migration, people will increasingly encounter such viruses. In case of such imported outbreaks, the vaccine should be at hand in order to vaccinate those infected or coming from these regions on time," the scientist said.
As Andrey Pozdnyakov, an infectious disease specialist at INVITRO, told Izvestia, the import of isolated cases is possible, for example, tourists may return from endemic regions with an infection in the incubation stage. However, the probability of a major outbreak in Russia is extremely low.
— Firstly, transmission requires contact with rodent secretions, not with a sick person. Secondly, the Russian Federation already has its own strains of hantavirus (they occur regularly in some regions of the Urals and Siberia), and the epidemiological surveillance system has been adapted to their control. The risk to the population is not related to the importation, but to the seasonal activity of local rodents (spring–autumn), especially in forest and suburban areas, — said the doctor.
According to the expert, the risk of infection for tourists in countries where the infection is widespread is generally low, but not zero. It increases when visiting rural, forest or warehouse premises where contact with rodents is possible, as well as when hygiene rules are violated in endemic regions. Theoretically, infection is possible on cruise ships if infected rodents enter the ship and their excrement enters the ventilation system or common areas. At the same time, human-to-human transmission is not typical for most strains, therefore, in a domestic setting, the patient usually does not pose a danger to others.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
