An enterovirus vaccine developed in Taiwan has proved highly successful at the animal testing stage and is set to proceed to human clinical trials, a National Health Research Institutes researcher said on Thursday.
The vaccine, which is administered nasally, provided 100 percent protection to animal test subjects after two doses, National Institute of Infectious Diseases researcher Joe Yen-hung Chow (周彥宏) said.
The aim is to provide protection against at least six different types of enterovirus, preventing initial symptoms and death from severe cases, he said.
Following the success of the animal testing, human clinical trials are expected to begin at the end of this year, Chow said, adding that hopefully the vaccine would become commercially available in four years.
The research team found that enterovirus 71 (EV71), a common cause of severe enterovirus cases, and Coxsackieviruses rely on a nonstructural protein to replicate in the human body, he said.
If the human body can immediately identify and destroy the nonstructural protein, it can avoid virus replication, effectively killing the virus, he added.
The research team developed a multivalent vaccine that can be administered nasally to offer protection against Coxsackievirus types A16, A10 and A6, as well as EV71 subgenotypes B4, C4 and C2, Chow said.
Asked why the vaccine was made to be administered nasally, he said that as viruses often infect the mucous membrane first, introducing the vaccine into the nose allows the mucosa to produce an immune response to the nonstructural protein.
Enterovirus outbreaks are most prevalent worldwide in summer and early autumn, with major symptoms of mouth blisters and hand, foot and mouth disease, the Centers for Disease Control said.
Last year, 15,290 patients sought outpatient or emergency treatment at hospitals nationwide for enterovirus infections in the week ending on Sept. 9, the agency’s data showed.
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