Flu virus mutates so quickly that one year’s vaccine won’t work on the next year’s common strains. But a new way to create vaccines, called ‘rational design,’ might pave the way for more lasting solutions.
Our immune system protects us but when it comes to some mosquito-borne disease, it can work against us. What are the implications for the development of a Zika virus vaccine?
Stories of meningococcal outbreaks tell us it’s that season again. But what is meningococcal, why does it occur in seasons, and why does it strike fear into the hearts of so many?
The Rotavirus vaccine is expensive and takes a long time to manufacture.
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Rotavirus vaccines are expensive and take time to produce. For developing countries, the fact that the vaccines need cold storage also presents a challenge.
Public health experts enlist the molecular biology tools that create genetically modified organisms – as well as the GMOs themselves – in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.
A few cancers vanish without any medical treatment. Researchers are studying these ‘spontaneous regressions’ to see if they can lead to new cancer treatments.
A new animal study has shown injections of antibodies might protect against HIV infection, albeit for only a limited time.
An Ethiopian boy receives a polio vaccination. Africa has done well with polio eradication but lags behind other vaccination efforts.
Unicef Ethiopia/2013/Sewunet
Every year hundreds of thousands of children die from vaccine-preventable diseases. Africa leaders could change this if they improved vaccination efforts.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand