the effects of bad science

Vaccination

A new epidemic of measles has broken out in Wales. Vaccination rates fell after a paper linking the vaccine to autism was published in the 1998. The paper was later proven to be fraudulent. NPR reports:

More than 1,200 people have come down with measles so far this year, following nearly 2,000 cases in 2012. Many of the cases have been in Wales.

Childhood vaccination rates plummeted in Great Britain after a 1998 paper by Dr. Andrew Wakefield claimed that the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella had caused autism in a dozen children. That study has since been proven , but it fueled fears about vaccine safety in Great Britain and the United States.

“This is the legacy of the Wakefield scare,” Dr. David Elliman, spokesman for the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, told The Associated Press.

Most of the measles cases have been in children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 18, according to British health officials. In that age group, vaccination rates dropped below 50 percent in some parts of England after the Wakefield paper was published.

a new tuberculosis vaccine falls short

Tuberculosis bacteria

A new study of the potential tuberculosis vaccine, modified Vaccinia Ankara virus expressing antigen 85A (MVA85A), has failed in a study of 3000 infants in South Africa. Scientists had hoped it would help improve protection against the infection when used with the current vaccination (BCG). The study was a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of healthy infants (aged 4—6 months). The infants were randomly administered BCG with either MVA85A or a placebo of Candida skin test antigen then examined every 3 months for up to 3 years. During the course of the trial, the rates of serious or systemic infection from tuberculosis were similar for the group that received the new vaccine enhancer compared to those given the placebo. The researchers did note that the MVA85A does appear to be safe and that no adverse effects were cause by the antigen itself. This was the first efficacy trial of a tuberculosis vaccine in infants in more than 45 years. More details here at The Lancet [subscription required].

hiv antibodies

Schematic diagram of an HIV virus and it’s coat glycoprotein bound to an antibody. Image from Corpus Christi College Oxford.

A South African study offers hope that an HIV vaccine can be developed. Certain changes in the virus’ coat proteins appear to trigger a more robust production of antibodies. From NPR news:

One of the women had neutralized 88 percent of 225 HIV virus subtypes after three years with the virus, while the other woman had neutralized 46 percent of 41 subtypes after two years of infection.

The researchers found that a specific change in the coating of the HIV virus appeared to be the trigger for the women to produce antibodies that could thwart its entry into cells.

One reason the HIV virus has proven so difficult to fight is that it is skilled at hiding from antibodies that can block the virus from attacking cells. But researchers believe that the more they understand how the antibodies develop, the better chance they have at developing an HIV vaccine.
 

The original research paper appears in Nature magazine.
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