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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS