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WHO backs anti-diarrhoea vaccine

The World Health Organization says a vaccine which can prevent a diarrhoea and vomiting virus should be given to all children as a routine vaccination.

Rotavirus causes more than 500,000 diarrhoeal deaths and two million hospitalisations a year among children.

Over 85% of deaths occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

International experts welcomed the WHO's recommendations, based on new research, but UK scientists have said the vaccine is too costly.

'Milestone'

The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) made its recommendations after new data from clinical trials.

The clinical trial, which involved a range or organisations including the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI) and drug company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which makes the vaccine plus researchers in South Africa and Malawi, found that rotavirus vaccine significantly reduced severe diarrhoea episodes.

The WHO's Dr Thomas Cherian, said: "This is a tremendous milestone in ensuring that vaccines against the most common cause of lethal diarrhoea reach the children who need them most."

But the WHO said, because there were other causes of diarrhoea, it was also important to improve water quality, hygiene, and sanitation and ensure oral rehydration solutions and zinc supplements were available.

Dr Tachi Yamada, president of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said: "This WHO recommendation clears the way for vaccines that will protect children in the developing world from one of the most deadly diseases they face.

"We need to act now to deliver vaccines to children in Africa and Asia, where most rotavirus deaths occur."

Dr Julian Lob-Levyt, chief executive officer of GAVI, said: "This represents another important step in our ability to achieve significant impact on under-five deaths in the world's poorest communities and make progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

"We are extremely excited about the potential to offer African and Asian countries funding to introduce rotavirus vaccines."

'Price cut'

There are around 130,000 episodes of gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus each year in the UK.

Around 12,700 children are hospitalised, and four die each year.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government, said in February that it would only consider recommending the vaccine if its price were significantly reduced.

In February, the JCVI said: "Rotavirus vaccination would reduce the incidence of rotavirus in the population.

"However, the cost-effectiveness analysis showed that, based on current vaccine prices, universal vaccination of young children significantly exceeded the commonly accepted threshold for cost-effective healthcare interventions.

"Introduction of rotavirus vaccines may only become cost-effective if the vaccine price is reduced significantly."

Professor Andrew Hall, chairman of the JCVI, said the committee always kept vaccines under review and considered new information.

About Influenza

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Anthrax panic, 2001

First anthrax-laced letter is mailed on 18 Sept, 2001
Florida sees first of five deaths, three weeks later
Panicked Americans try to stock up on antibiotic Cipro
Postal depots shut for de-contamination
Senate offices shut for weeks
Hoaxes become an almost daily occurrence
Plans to deal with a biological weapons attack updated
Mail irradiated to kill anthrax spores


August 1, 2008 BBC News
US anthrax ‘suspect’ found dead
A top US scientist suspected of anthrax attacks in 2001 has apparently killed himself just as he was about to be charged
The Los Angeles Times said Bruce Ivins, 62, had taken an overdose of painkillers (a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine). It said he had recently been told of the impending prosecution.
There has been no official comment but unnamed sources said prosecutors were to indict and seek the death penalty.
Five people died when anthrax was posted to the media and politicians.
The incidents took place shortly after the 11 September attacks in 2001.
Security measures in the wake of the anthrax attacks increased the public’s fear of their vulnerability to terrorism.
As well as the five deaths, 17 other people were made ill.

Progress
Dr. Ivins worked for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland.
In 2003, Dr Ivins was awarded the highest honor for defence department civilian staff for his anthrax vaccine work.
The authorities were investigating whether Dr. Ivins has released the anthrax to test the vaccine he was developing.
Dr. Ivin’s lawyer, Paul Kemp, said: “We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trail.”

Depression
The FBI focused more on Dr. Ivins after the leadership of the investigation was changed in 2006.
The investigation had been making new progress based on analysis of anthrax-tainted letters posted to senators.
There has been no official comment but unnamed sources said prosecutors were to indict him and seek the death penalty.



Monday, August 4, 2008 Cox News Service
Army microbiologist who committed suicide was to be indicted in anthrax cases
An award winning army anthrax expert killed himself this week, as federal prosecutors prepared to indict him on charges stemming from the lethal anthrax attacks that shook the country seven years ago, officials said Friday.
The scientist Bruce Ivins, helped develop a new generation of anthrax vaccine in his 35 years as a microbiologist for the Army’s bio warfare lab outside Washington, said lab spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden.
His apparent suicide came five days after a Frederick Country issued a temporary restraining order against Ivins, after a social worker who was counseling him complained in court documents that Ivins had stalked, harassed and threatened to kill her.
In her petition for the restraining order, Jean Duley wrote that she had received a subpoena to testify Friday before a federal grand jury assessing evidence against Ivins. In handwritten testimony, Duley said Ivins “has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats.”
Weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, letters laced with anthrax were mailed from a postal box in Princeton, N.J., to newsrooms in Florida and New York, as well as the Capitol Hill offices of two U.S. senators. The attacks panicked much of the nation and triggered one of the largest investigations in recent history.
Code named “Amerithrax,” the investigation has involved 17 FBI special agents and 10 U.S. Postal Service Inspectors. Together they’ve conducted 75 searches and more than 9,100 interviews in what the Justice Department called “relentless pursuit” of the perpetrators.
Ivins had special expertise in the production, purification, storage and use of anthrax spores.
Five years ago, he was one of three USAMIID scientists to receive the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, the highest honor the Pentagon bestows upon civilian staff, for helping to resolve anthrax vaccine production problems.
“Awards are nice”, Ivins said at the time, “but the real satisfaction is knowing the vaccine is back on line.”
Ivins also reportedly helped the FBI analyze recovered from one of the tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator’s office in Washington.
However, he failed to report anthrax contaminations to Army officials for five months. In sworn oral and written statements to an Army investigator, Ivins said that he had erred by keeping the episodes secret from December 2001 to late April 2002. he said he had swabbed and bleached more than 20 areas that he suspected were contaminated by a sloppy lab technician.