A team of British researchers began developing vaccines as insurance against a new pandemic caused by an unknown “disease X”. The research is being carried out at the government’s high-security laboratory in Wiltshire, within the Porton Down laboratory complex, involving a team of over 200 scientists. They say that the risk of future pandemics “is increasing” worldwide.
The team of British scientists has compiled a list of the threat of animal viruses that can infect humans and that, in the future, could spread rapidly throughout the world.
It’s not known which one will manage to break through and trigger the next pandemic, which is why it’s only being referred to as ‘disease X’, according to a Sky News team that was escorted around the site managed by the UKHSA. , from the UK, to see the work carried out in the high-security laboratories.
“What we’re trying to do here is make sure we’re preparing so that if we do have a new disease X, a new pathogen, we’ve done as much of that work in advance as possible,” Professor Jenny said. Harries, head of the UKHSA.
“Hopefully we can prevent it [o pandemie]. But if we cannot and must react, then we have already started to develop vaccines and therapeutic products to defeat it”, she stated.
The Vaccine Development and Evaluation Center at Porton Down has been expanded to take over this activity.
Initially, it focused on Covid and testing the effectiveness of vaccines against new variants.
But scientists at the center are now involved in monitoring several high-risk pathogens, including bird flu, mpox (formerly monkeypox) and hantavirus, which is transmitted to humans from rodents and can cause several serious infectious diseases , including hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
An early success is the world’s first vaccine against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne disease that has a 30% mortality rate.
The team has just started early stage clinical trials, with 24 volunteers expected to receive the vaccine.
The disease is becoming more common in Europe as temperatures rise globally, and some travelers have returned to the UK with the infectious disease.
Prof. Harries said climate and demographic changes are making another pandemic increasingly likely.
“What we see is a growing risk globally,” she said.
According to the British scientist, part of this is due to urbanization, where it is possible for the virus to jump to people [care locuiesc în apropiere]as happened in the case of bird flu.
On the other hand, says Prof. Harries, the situation is also due to climate change, where ticks and mosquitoes move to places where it used to be cold and now it’s getting warmer.
“Therefore, there is a growing risk agenda. But it is one where we can use our knowledge actively to prevent human impact,” she said.
Bird flu is currently considered the most likely pandemic threat.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says at least 30,000 seabirds have died in Britain this summer as a more virulent strain of the H5N1 virus has spread around the world.
There is also evidence of limited spread in some mammals, and four people working on poultry farms in the UK also tested positive but were only mildly affected.
The UKHSA has started monitoring people in close contact with the birds, in case the virus spreads without causing symptoms.
The agency is part of a global effort to develop a vaccine within 100 days of recognizing a new pathogen as having pandemic potential.
“Historically, this would be unthinkable,” says Prof Harries. “Normally it would have taken five or ten years. For Covid, it was about 360 days”.
“It’s a very big ambition, but for some viruses, it’s certainly possible,” added the British scientist.
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2023-08-07 11:50:23
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