Cholera outbreaks have surged since the pandemic, straining vaccine supplies and derailing momentum to launch preventive strategies
Scientists are creating a cholera vaccine in capsule form that aims to transform global immunisation programmes against the water-borne disease and save countless lives.
The World Health Organisation estimates there are 1.3 to 4 million cases of the acute diarrhoeal disease each year, leading to up to 143,000 deaths. Caused by food or water contaminated with the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, it occurs mainly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr Julia Lynch, director of the cholera programme at the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, said the new capsules, called DuoChol, will help plug current vaccine shortages and allow governments to shift to a more preventive strategy. A phase 1 clinical trial is set to launch next year.
“There has been a growing effort… for countries to identify populations at risk and do preventive campaigns,” she told The Telegraph. “But that’s been stymied by the shortage of vaccines. Over the last year and a half, essentially all the vaccines in the stockpile went to outbreaks.”