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Black Death Vaccine Being Developed Amid Fears The Disease Could Return And Kill Millions
COVID jab scientists are developing a Black Death vaccine over fears the disease could re-emerge and kill millions.
Researchers believe their inoculation will be the first approved in the UK for the ancient infection.
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Covid jab scientists are developing a Black Death vaccineCredit: GettyThe Black Death — also known as bubonic plague — has killed 200million people worldwide and medics fear a super-strength version may now appear.
The team behind the Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine said they had made progress on an injection that could prevent bubonic plague developing.
A trial of their vaccine on 40 healthy adults, which started in 2021, shows it is safe and can produce an immune response to the often-fatal condition.
Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the trial's results will be examined by global experts before tests continue this year.
He told the Telegraph: "There are no licensed plague vaccines in the UK.
"Antibiotics are the only treatment.
"There are some licensed vaccines in Russia."
The bubonic plague still exists in pockets of the world and has "potential for pandemic spread", leading health experts believe.
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I was told I had cancer on wedding day after docs said I was 'TOO FAT' to have itScientists at Porton Down's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory wrote last year that antimicrobial resistance is creating superbug strains that can't be countered by standard antibiotics.
Evolving strains which could pose a risk have already been found in Madagascar and Peru.
Scot's Silent Struggle: Covid Vaccine Complications ExposedBubonic Plague Fears As Warning Issued Over Antibiotic-resistant Strains
Scientists have warned that an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bubonic plague could emerge and are developing a vaccine for the disease that has killed as many as 200 million people throughout history.
The plague is a bacterial infection caused by the Yersinia pestis microbe and can be treated with antibiotics, but there is currently no vaccine approved for use.
The potential new vaccine is being devised by the team behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab as there currently isn't one in the UK.
The Oxford team already completed a trial of the vaccine, begun in 2021, on 40 healthy adults, which concluded that it's safe and able to produce an immune response.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the results of the first trial are due to be peer reviewed within weeks, with more trials expected in the future.
He told The Telegraph: "There are no licensed plague vaccines in the UK. Antibiotics are the only treatment. There are some licensed vaccines in Russia.
"The risk in the UK is currently very low. Previous historical pandemics that had high mortality were associated with initiation from fleas on rodents but were driven by person to person spread."
The bubonic plague killed as many as 50 million people across Europe in the 14th century - 50% of its population - in what's known as the Black Death, one of the most fatal pandemics in human history.
Government military scientists have also called for a bubonic plague vaccine to be approved and manufactured in bulk because the disease still exists in some parts of the world, which could create the "potential for pandemic spread".
Scientists at Porton Down's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) added that vaccines for the bubonic plague are of utmost importance because they will help "prevent future disastrous plague outbreaks".
They warned of a "demonstrable" risk of the bug evolving, with antibiotic-resistant strains having already been discovered in Madagascar and Peru. They also said antimicrobial resistance is compounding the risk of an outbreak, making the plague harder to treat.
The bubonic plague is carried by fleas who contract the bacteria from rodents and transfer it to humans they bite. Symptoms include a fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, painful lymph nodes, called buboes.
The bacteria can spread to other parts of the body if the patient isn't treated with antibiotics. The mortality rate for bubonic plague is between 30-60% if left untreated, but antibiotics can bring this down to 1-15%.
Covid Vaccine Scientists Develop Bubonic Plague Jab Ahead Of "next Pandemic"
Director of the Oxford vaccine group Professor Andrew Pollard (Image: PA)
Scientist who introduced the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine during the covid pandemic are now working on the UK's first bubonic plague jab, as fears for the next deadly outbreak rise.
The Black Death in the 1300s is estimated to have killed half the population of Europe. The bubonic plague is 30 per cent fatal without treatment and is characterised by swollen and painful lymph nodes around a flea bite. Three of the world's seven known pandemics have been caused by the plague, a bacterial infection triggered by the Yersinia pestis microbe.
Since the introduction of antibiotics there has been less fear over the plague, but with the rise of antibiotic resistance, the scientists behind the Oxford jab feel now is the time for the UK to be ready. There is no vaccine in the UK for the plague currently.
The Oxford team say a trial of its vaccine on 40 healthy adults which started in 2021 has yielded results which show it is safe and able to produce an immune response in people. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told The Telegraph that the results of the trial are to be submitted to a journal for peer review within weeks, with further clinical trials expected.
Scientists are developing a plague vaccine (Image:
PA)He said: "There are no licensed plague vaccines in the UK. Antibiotics are the only treatment. There are some licensed vaccines in Russia. The risk in the UK is currently very low. Previous historical pandemics that had high mortality were associated with initiation from fleas on rodents but were driven by person to person spread."
Scientists at Porton Down's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) wrote in a paper in the journal NPJ Vaccines that vaccines need to be expedited "to prevent future disastrous plague outbreaks".
Professor Tim Atkins, a DTSL Fellow and lead in the chemical, biological and radiological division, told The Telegraph: "If a person gets infected with an antibiotic-resistant strain of the plague bacteria, treatment might be less effective, and they could remain sick for longer. For pneumonic plague (spread by inhalation), this increases the chances of infecting others nearby.
"While resistant strains exist, there are still other antibiotics that can be used as backups. Antibiotic resistance isn't unique in the plague; it's also a concern for common infections like MRSA in the UK."
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