Healthcare & Laboratory News

Reuters (8/29, Eboh) reports, “Nigeria has received 10,000 doses of the mpox vaccine from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the first batch of the vaccine to reach the country which has confirmed 40 cases with no fatalities so far.” National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Executive Director Muyi Aina “called the donation a ‘critical step’ for Nigeria,” with the government deciding “to prioritize five states to receive the vaccines including Bayelsa, Edo, Cross-River and Lagos.” However, “NPHCDA has not yet said when the vaccines would be distributed or who would be prioritized for treatment.”

The New York Times (8/28, Rosenbluth) reports a rare “mosquito-borne virus called Eastern equine encephalitis” (EEE) has led to “residents of 10 communities in Massachusetts” being warned “to stay indoors from dusk to dawn,” while “some local parks are closed at night” and “pesticides are being sprayed from trucks and aircrafts.” EEE “is endemic in North America,” with the US usually seeing “a handful of infections every year, mainly along the East Coast and around the Great Lakes.” The virus is particularly dangerous for “those who spend extended periods of time outside – including people who have outdoor jobs, who are homeless or who enjoy hiking or biking.” There are currently “no treatments that target the E.E.E. virus,” forcing doctors to “focus on managing symptoms with pain medications or, in severe cases, using steroids to control swelling.”

Reuters (8/29, Roy) reports, “The World Health Organization on Thursday sought to speed up the access to diagnostic tests for mpox by asking manufacturers to submit their products for an emergency review.” The WHO “has been in discussions with manufacturers about the need for effective diagnostics, particularly in low-income groups.” The agency “has called for submissions from manufacturers for Emergency Use Listing that would allow it to approve medical products such as vaccines, tests and treatments,” aiming “to assist countries to procure the critically needed products such as tests through UN agencies and other partners.” With up to “1,000 suspected cases reported in the Congo alone this week, the need for diagnostic tests has surged dramatically, the agency said.”

Politico (8/29, Cirruzzo) reports, “New COVID-19 vaccines are hitting the shelves just as a summer surge infects people across the nation,” leaving public health officials to contend with a “myriad of obstacles as they try to boost the population’s defenses, including dwindling enthusiasm for the shots, lackluster testing and the end of a program meant to help the uninsured get vaccinated.” While the new vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna “target KP.2,” the most prevalent COVID-19 strain in June, “related subvariants, KP.3 and KP.3.1.1 – now the most prevalent strains – are estimated to account for more than half of U.S. cases, according to the CDC.” However, health experts emphasize that these new vaccines are still effective and advise “everyone older than 6 months get their Covid (and flu) shot ‘in September or October ahead of the expected increases in both viruses this winter.’”

Infectious Disease Advisor (8/28, Basilio) reports, “The prevalence of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) was found to be low among a population of young, urban men who have sex with men (MSM) in Canada following the introduction of publicly-funded HPV vaccination programs, according to study results.” Investigators also observed “that vaccinated patients were at reduced risk for oral 4-valent (odds ratio [OR], 0.3; 95% CI, 0.0-2.6) and 9-valent (OR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.1-2.1) HPV infections, corresponding to vaccine effectiveness estimates of 70% (95% CI, -161 to 96) and 57% (95% CI, -110 to 91), respectively.” The findings were published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Multiple Sclerosis News Today (8/28, Bryson) reports, “Glial cells, which mostly support the function of nerve cells, play key roles in multiple sclerosis (MS) disease progression and development, according to a stem cell-based study.” Specifically, investigators observed that “the activity of immune and inflammatory genes was increased in patient-derived oligodendrocytes and astrocytes, star-shaped glial cells that serve a wide range of roles in maintaining a healthy nervous system.” The findings were published in Cell Stem Cell.

Healio (8/28, Hornick) reports, “Among patients with COVID-19 and acute respiratory failure, survival at 1 year was more likely if they received nintedanib or pirfenidone antifibrotics, according to” a study. Investigators came to this conclusion after performing “a retrospective, multi-institutional cohort study” involving “167 patients (mean age, 64.5 years; 59.3% men; 75.4% white) who received either nintedanib (Ofev, Boehringer Ingelheim; n = 127) or pirfenidone (n = 39) vs. 167 propensity score-matched control patients (mean age, 65.8 years; 59.3% men; 64.1% white).” The findings were published in BMC Pulmonary Medicine.

HealthDay (8/28, Thompson) says, “An improved test for Lyme disease could provide accurate results within 20 minutes, researchers report.” Resembling “an AI-guided form of the at-home COVID-19 test,” investigators observed that the test “is 95% accurate at detecting Lyme disease and 100% accurate at ruling out samples that don’t contain Lyme antibodies.” The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Reuters (8/28, Miridzhanian) reports, “Africa has secured less than 10% of the estimated $245 million it needs to fight a surging mpox outbreak on the continent, a senior official from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Wednesday.” The Democratic Republic of Congo “has committed $10 million to support the fight against the outbreak while the African Union has approved $10.4 million,” leaving a funding gap of approximately $224 million. Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya also “said...that the organization was moving towards securing almost 1 million doses of mpox vaccine,” though “there is no timeline yet on when the vaccines might reach the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the most affected by the virus.”

The AP (8/28) reports, “A New Hampshire resident infected with the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus has died, state health authorities said,” marking the country’s first EEE-related death of the year. The resident “had been hospitalized due to severe central nervous system symptoms” and their infection “was the first in the state in a decade, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday.” 2024 EEE infections in humans have thus far “been confirmed in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Vermont, as well as New Hampshire, according to the CDC,” while the New Hampshire health department “said the virus has also been detected in one horse and several mosquito batches” in the state this summer. Health authorities in states prone to mosquito-borne infections “encourage people to take precautions, preventing mosquito bites by using repellent, wearing long sleeves and pants, and avoiding outdoor activity in the early morning and evening when mosquitoes are most active.”