A top 10 list waiting to save lives!

By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog Sometimes I have to remind myself we are in the 21st Century when I hear that infectious diseases are a leading cause of death among adults and remain the leading cause of death in children. While most of these deaths occur in the developing world, a significant number occur in middle income countries. Vaccines are the most cost effective medical intervention known to prevent infectious diseases. An effective vaccine can significantly reduce the mortality associated with them. However, while we have come a long way, the reality is that we have relatively few effective vaccines. One leading scientific magazine - "Science" recently asked infectious disease and vaccine experts for their opinions to prioritize vaccine development. This resulted in a ranking of ten infectious diseases in need of a vaccine and took into account the feasibility of producing one. So, in effect this is a top 10 list waiting to save lives. The top of the survey was Ebola Sudan, which is related to Ebola Zaire that was responsible for the West African outbreak involving more than 28,000 infected people and 11,000 deaths in 2014 and 2015. Remember that although there were only 4 cases in the US, the public was highly concerned about the possibility of Ebola infection spreading in the US. Next on the list is Chikungunya virus, which is spread by mosquitoes. This virus causes debilitating joint and muscle pain and is spreading across the Caribbean. As of Januar...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news