Sept. 15 – Italy is at the forefront in the international fight against Ebola. During “The Fifth ESWI Influenza Conference,” currently taking place in Riga, Susanna Esposito outlined the progress made by the European guidelines for vaccination of adults and the elderly. Esposito, who is coordinator of the Vaccines Group at the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and president of the World Association for Infectious Diseases and Immunological Disorders (Waidid), coordinated the research between ESCMID, Waidid and the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (Eugms). In terms of Ebola-prevention protocols, Italy is among the most advanced countries. “As announced a few days ago – said Susanna Esposito – Okairos, which has laboratories in Naples and Rome, has identified a new technology to develop vaccines employing adenoviruses derived from chimpanzees. The vaccines proved to be safe and immunogenic in several clinical trials with different types of antigens. Recently, the chad3EBO-Z vaccine was used in a phase 1 study in the United States with very encouraging results in macaques.”
