Latest news with #Mers
Telegraph
16-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Spike in Saudi Mers cases sparks outbreak fears ahead of Hajj
A spike in Mers cases in Saudi Arabia has ignited fears of an outbreak during Hajj, the Muslim festival that sees over three million people congregate in Mecca in early June. Since March, at least nine people have been infected with the virus, a close but far more deadly cousin of Covid-19, the Saudi Arabian health ministry has said. Two have died. Six of the most recent cases were in healthcare workers, who were infected from a single symptomatic patient in a hospital in Riyadh. However, the source of infection remains unknown in two cases, sparking fears that the virus could be spreading in the wider Saudi community under the radar. Airfinity, the disease analytics firm, warned the cases 'raise the risk of outbreaks and potential international spread amidst the upcoming Hajj when millions will gather.' In several pictures of US President Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh earlier this week, waiters and other Saudi bystanders were seen wearing face masks. The Hajj – which takes place every year in the beginning of June – sees more than three million people confined to a 12-square kilometre area and is famously a breeding ground of respiratory diseases like influenza and bacterial meningitis. Since 2012, a total of 2613 laboratory-confirmed cases of Mers have been reported globally and more than 80 per cent of those occurred in Saudi Arabia. The case fatality rate is 36 per cent. Covid-19's case fatality rate, by comparison, ranges between 0.1 per cent to 5 per cent, depending on the country and time period, according to John Hopkins University. Mers is a zoonotic virus carried by camels and can be contracted via touching infected animals, consuming their meat or milk, or eating food that has been contaminated with camel faeces, urine, or spit. Human to human transmission, via respiratory droplets, is generally confined to enclosed hospital settings but there have been instances of household and community transmission. The main symptoms include a high temperature, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, diarrhoea, and being sick. Most people who die from Mers have at least one underlying medical condition like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or high blood pressure. There is currently no vaccine available to protect against Mers, although clinical trials are currently underway.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Spike in Saudi Mers cases sparks outbreak fears ahead of Hajj
A spike in Mers cases in Saudi Arabia has ignited fears of an outbreak during Hajj, the Muslim festival that sees over three million people congregate in Mecca in early June. Since March, at least nine people have been infected with the virus, a close but far more deadly cousin of Covid-19, the Saudi Arabian health ministry has said. Two have died. Six of the most recent cases were in healthcare workers, who were infected from a single symptomatic patient in a hospital in Riyadh. However, the source of infection remains unknown in two cases, sparking fears that the virus could be spreading in the wider Saudi community under the radar. Airfinity, the disease analytics firm, warned the cases 'raise the risk of outbreaks and potential international spread amidst the upcoming Hajj when millions will gather.' In several pictures of US President Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh earlier this week, waiters and other Saudi bystanders were seen wearing face masks. The Hajj – which takes place every year in the beginning of June – sees more than three million people confined to a 12-square kilometre area and is famously a breeding ground of respiratory diseases like influenza and bacterial meningitis. Since 2012, a total of 2613 laboratory-confirmed cases of Mers have been reported globally and more than 80 per cent of those occurred in Saudi Arabia. The case fatality rate is 36 per cent. Covid-19's case fatality rate, by comparison, ranges between 0.1 per cent to 5 per cent, depending on the country and time period, according to John Hopkins University. Mers is a zoonotic virus carried by camels and can be contracted via touching infected animals, consuming their meat or milk, or eating food that has been contaminated with camel faeces, urine, or spit. Human to human transmission, via respiratory droplets, is generally confined to enclosed hospital settings but there have been instances of household and community transmission. The main symptoms include a high temperature, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, diarrhoea, and being sick. Most people who die from Mers have at least one underlying medical condition like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or high blood pressure. There is currently no vaccine available to protect against Mers, although clinical trials are currently underway. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Hindustan Times
24-04-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Securing veterinary health to ensure a safer future for all
India's vast livestock and poultry sector plays a critical role in supporting rural livelihoods and ensuring food security. According to the 20th Livestock Census, the country has ~303.76 million bovines, 74.26 million sheep, 148.88 million goats, 9.06 million pigs, and about 851.81 million poultry. Veterinarians are essential to safeguarding the health of these animals, working closely with communities — particularly farmers, women, and indigenous populations — to promote sustainable livestock management and improve livelihoods. From ensuring food safety and controlling trans-boundary animal diseases to strengthening public health systems, veterinarians serve as the first line of defence against health risks that affect both animals and humans. World Veterinary Day, observed each year in April, highlights the indispensable contributions of veterinarians, which extend far beyond clinics and farms to include disease surveillance, research, policymaking, and emergency response efforts. This year's theme — Animal Health Takes a Team — underscores that effective veterinary care relies on strong teamwork, drawing on the collective efforts of veterinarians, technicians, paraprofessionals, researchers, and other allied health professionals. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has long supported veterinarians and promoted robust animal health systems to strengthen this collaborative response. Through practical field training, evidence-based guidance, and enhanced early warning mechanisms, FAO continues to expand the reach and impact of veterinary services globally. The emergence of zoonotic diseases such as Sars, Mers, Ebola, Zika, Sars-CoV-2, and M-pox has reinforced the need for strong global and regional cooperation in addressing animal health risks. These outbreaks have prompted the establishment of multisectoral initiatives centred on collaboration and shared responsibility. Recent health crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic, have underscored the importance of the One Health approach, which recognises the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. Recognising the pivotal role of veterinarians, the government of India has launched several initiatives to strengthen the animal health sector. Among these, the Livestock Health and Disease Control (LHDC) programme plays a central role by supporting animal disease surveillance, diagnostics, and vaccination efforts. A key component of this programme is the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP), which aims to eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) and brucellosis — both critical to safeguarding livestock health and farmers' livelihoods. Additionally, the National Livestock Mission promotes veterinary extension services and capacity building to improve animal productivity and welfare. The government has also launched a Pandemic Fund-supported initiative titled Animal Health Security Strengthening in India for Pandemic Preparedness & Response. This programme, being implemented with technical support from FAO, Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank, focuses on strengthening laboratory infrastructure, enhancing disease surveillance and early warning systems, and building the capacities of field veterinarians. FAO has been at the forefront of supporting veterinarians and strengthening animal health systems globally. In 2024, FAO developed the standard veterinary treatment guidelines to harmonise veterinary practices in India. It is also facilitating state-level advocacy to raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance and has provided technical assistance in developing the draft veterinary component of National Action Plan 2.0, as well as in establishing the Indian Network for Fisheries and Animal Antimicrobial Resistance (INFAAR). Additionally, FAO implements the In-Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET) programme, equipping field veterinarians with practical tools and hands-on experience in outbreak investigation, early detection, and rapid response. The Field Training Programme on Wildlife, Environment, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems (FTP-WEBE) further enhances expertise in wildlife health and biodiversity management by strengthening the capacities of wildlife veterinarians, forest officials, and animal health professionals in integrated surveillance and disease control — contributing to pandemic preparedness. As we mark World Veterinary Day on April 26, it is also a moment to look ahead. Strengthening veterinary services and fostering collaboration across sectors will be pivotal in safeguarding both animal and human health. India, with its significant advancements in veterinary care systems, stands as a model for the Global South and holds the potential to emerge as a global leader in shaping integrated health strategies. Through its ongoing efforts in capacity-building, policy development, and innovative approaches, India can set a powerful precedent — demonstrating how robust veterinary systems can support global health security and ensure a safer, healthier future for all. Takayuki Hagiwara is FAO representative in India and part of Team UN in India. The views expressed are personal
The Guardian
23-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Pandemics, pathogens and being prepared: why the work to identify emerging threats never stops
Prof Emma Thomson is someone who knows a thing or two about pandemics. As the recently appointed director of the Medical Research Council, University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) and a World Heath Organization consultant, Thomson is one of the country's leading virus experts. 'We used to think that pandemics would occur maybe once in our lifetimes. Now, it's definitely within the next few years. It could even be tomorrow,' she says. But, Thomson says, 'amazing' advances in technology, including genetic sequencing, mRNA vaccines and artificial intelligence (AI), are boosting the world's ability to deal with these threats, even as travel, urbanisation and the changing climate make pandemics much more likely. The key will be sustaining those capacities and making sure they are available everywhere. Global leaders look likely to finally agree an accord on pandemic preparedness in May at the World Health Assembly in Geneva – minus the US, which has withdrawn from the process. An earlier deadline was missed amid wrangling about what poorer countries could expect from richer nations' pharmaceutical companies in return for access to their data and cooperation. Thomson said the world was 'probably more prepared than we were in 2019' but with quite significant vulnerabilities. 'I can travel from Glasgow to Uganda in 12 hours – and back – and there's a lot of that going on. 'If we also look at road infrastructures, for example, in Africa, you see that there's this fantastic improvement in transport infrastructure, which is great, and it's associated with better lives that people lead. But we also have to prepare ourselves for what that can bring.' Cases of bird flu in US cattle and an ongoing international mpox emergency centred on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have recently captured attention. Concerns on both fronts are justified, says Thomson, with any sustained transmission of avian influenza in humans 'potentially very dangerous'. And while mpox could be solved with vaccines already, the issue is getting those jabs to the right places at the right time. More worrying is what could emerge left field. 'If you had asked a scientist 20 years ago, 'are coronaviruses going to cause a problem?', they would probably have laughed at you and said that coronaviruses cause a mild cold.' Then came Sars, Mers, and Covid-19. Similarly, the study of retroviruses was 'a really neglected field' before the advent of HIV. Thomson trained in medicine and parasitology in Glasgow, later specialising in infectious diseases and completing a PhD in London and Oxford. She was awarded an OBE for her work on the steering committee of the Covid-19 Genomics UK (Cog-UK) consortium. The world-leading programme sequenced millions of samples from people ill with the virus to track changes and identified the Kent variant, later called Alpha, in late 2020. That level of sequencing is 'obviously' not sustainable outside of a major ongoing pandemic, she says, but surveillance with a more targeted approach is vital. In 2022, she was part of a team that, using sequencing techniques, identified an adenovirus as the cause of a mystery global outbreak of severe hepatitis in young children. The level of surveillance of potential threats varies considerably between countries, says Thomson. She is currently part of a project setting up wastewater surveillance systems in Ugandan hospitals, schools and transport hubs. Similar initiatives are under way in the UK. 'Sewage, wastewater, is a very good place to look for emerging viruses – and other things, like antimicrobial resistance,' says Thomson. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion Thomson was speaking from Uganda, where an international team was launching a $5.5m (£4.1m) study into the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus. The African country has already experienced an outbreak of Sudan Ebola virus this year, and Thomson says its detection illustrates the importance of surveillance and research. The first documented case in that outbreak was found because the mortuary where their body was taken 'was part of a study evaluating the value of sequencing samples from people that had died unexpectedly'. Thomson is excited about the potential of new technologies, many of which will be discussed on 23 April at the UK Pandemic Sciences Network conference. A colleague at the CVR is using AI to predict what shape of proteins a virus will have, based on its genetic sequence 'and that's a huge advance, and it will help us with vaccine design 'in silico': on your computer'. Should a new pandemic begin, she says, 'I would hope that those technologies will be there to help us. But what worries me is that what you really need is not just me tinkering away in a lab in the UK, but that there's a widespread global resilience, so that scientists in other countries, like Uganda for example, can also do that.' That is particularly important in parts of the world with very high biodiversity – [such as] Central and South America, the African region and Asia, she says. 'The next pandemic may well come from there. [That's] not to say it won't come from the UK, but it's far less likely.' Pathogens already adapted for jumping from other animals into humans 'are sitting there waiting', she says. 'And as our population extends into high biodiversity regions, the risk of a jump into humans is very high. And then we could transport it very rapidly, all around the world.'
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists use alpaca antibodies to make new pandemic flu drug
Antibodies taken from alpacas are to be used in a new pandemic flu drug, in a £33 million project led by AstraZenica. If successful, the trial could 'usher in a new era' of affordable antibody therapies to protect against dangerous infectious diseases as diverse as Mers, Ebola and mpox. The use of man-made monoclonal antibodies to target and neutralise viruses and some cancers has accelerated in recent years but has proved clunky and expensive. The new project, funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (Cepi), aims to overcome this by using VHH antibodies or 'nanobodies' which are more potent, more precise and more stable. They are also considerably more exotic; derived from a narrow group of animals including camels, llamas and several species of shark. In the trial led by AstraZeneca, scientists will immunise alpacas with four strains of pandemic flu. They will then extract the protective antibodies that the animals produce in response, and use them to create potential new protective drugs for humans. It is thought to be the first time that VHH antibodies from alpacas have been used to develop therapies against dangerous viruses. Assuming they work, it is hoped VHH antibodies will be cheaper to produce and more effective than monoclonal antibodies. Because they are more potent they can be used in lower concentrations and because they are more stable they may not need to be kept at low temperatures requiring a cold chain. This feature has also made camel antibodies a candidate for snakebite antivenom. But critically, VHH antibodies are also much smaller than monoclonal antibodies, allowing them to target parts of a virus that conventional antibodies are unable to attack. Scientists hope this could help solve a major problem: 'virus escape'. 'Prior to [Covid-19], the whole world thought monoclonal antibodies were the answer,' said Dr Stacey Wooden, biologics programme lead at Cepi. 'But we had 30 different monoclonals in clinical trials, and all of them just went away because of omicron.' The development of a new variant of the virus was a major blow. The mutations found in the omicron strain rendered the treatments ineffective, because the part of Sars-Cov-2 which the therapies targeted had changed. But the previously unreachable areas that VHH antibodies can attack are less susceptible to mutations, said Dr Wooden, potentially avoiding issues with virus escape. VHH antibodies were first identified in camels in the 1980s, and they have already been used in some therapies to target chronic disease – including cancer and Alzheimer's. But the current project is thought to be the first to use them to target an infectious pathogen. 'This potentially ground-breaking VHH project could usher in a new era of more affordable antibody-based interventions, meaning that vulnerable populations could be protected from future epidemic or pandemic threats,' said Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of Cepi. In the AstraZeneca and Cepi trial, alpaca antibodies will be used to develop a therapy which targets four strains of pandemic influenza – H1, H3, H5 and H7. 'This is a proof-of-concept trial with influenza… but the idea is that we would eventually take this technology and use it for other pathogens,' said Dr Wooden. This could include Nipah virus, Mers, Ebola and mpox. The therapy is not meant to treat already sick people – instead it would be used as a prophylaxis to prevent infections in the first place, especially among those on the frontlines of a new epidemic or pandemic. The current proof-of-concept trial will include animal tests in the lab, but there are hopes it will progress into a phase one trial in people as soon as 2027. AstraZeneca's vice president of early vaccine and immune therapies R&D, Mark Esser, said the project demonstrates the company's commitment to 'pushing the boundaries of science'. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
