Descriptions
The studies will help scientists figure
out if trials assessing the efficacy of Rift Valley fever vaccines are possible.
NAIROBI/KAMPALA/MOSHI/OSLO,
21 AUG—Global
disease experts are joining forces in two major collaborative projects to
strengthen scientific understanding of the potentially deadly Rift Valley fever
virus and its disease impact across Africa. Led by institutions in Kenya and
Tanzania the research will help guide the planning of future clinical trials
assessing much-needed human Rift Valley fever vaccine candidates.
Rift
Valley fever is a mosquito-borne illness that can affect both livestock and
people. It was first identified in East Africa’s Rift Valley in 1930 and has
continued to cause major outbreaks both in the region and further afield,
affecting people’s health, food security and livelihoods.
Despite
being recognised as a priority disease in need of urgent R&D by both
the World
Health Organization, and Africa
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the burden of Rift Valley fever is poorly
characterised and transmission of the disease between outbreaks is not well
understood.
The two
new epidemiology and computational modelling projects, known as RVF-VETS led by
Washington State University - Global Health in Kenya and the REMIT project led by
the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute in Tanzania, will assess the extent
of Rift Valley fever’s impact across Africa. The projects are supported by a combined total of up to $9.6
million awarded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
and include partners from The Gambia, New Zealand, South Africa, Uganda, United
Kingdom and the United States.
Findings
will help forecast the number of expected human Rift Valley fever illnesses in
Africa today and in the future. This information is crucial for vaccine
development because large-scale clinical trials to assess the efficacy of
vaccines are only feasible when the virus is circulating.
Vaccine
efficacy trials involve thousands of participants and are typically one of the
final steps before licensure of a vaccine. However, without better knowledge about
where Rift Valley fever occurs, who it affects and how the disease manifests, research
bodies like CEPI are unable to plan whether an efficacy study can demonstrate
how well a vaccine works.
“This
groundbreaking research will shed new light on a disease that has been
neglected for far too long. The learnings will tell us whether large-scale vaccine
efficacy trials are feasible, where they should take place, and how long they
are expected to take.” explains Dr Kent Kester, Executive Director of
Vaccine Research & Development, at CEPI. “And if the research finds that
cases of Rift Valley fever in the region are too infrequent or sporadic to
conduct an efficacy trial, we’ll know we need to focus on alternative pathways
to licensing a human Rift Valley fever vaccine.”
Knowing
the number of Rift Valley fever cases and likely locations with high infection
rates can also help policy makers and vaccine developers better estimate demand
for Rift Valley fever vaccines in the future. Findings could also inform our
understanding of how other important viruses in the same viral family as Rift Valley fever are spread.
Dr
Kariuki Njenga, Professor at the Washington State University Paul G. Allen
School for Global Animal Health, and a Senior Scientist at the WSU Global
Health Program – Kenya, working as Principal Investigator of the RVF-VETS
consortium, says
“Working closely with Dr Barnabas Bakamutumaho of Uganda Virus Research
Institute and colleagues from regional ministries of health our recent studies
in the East Africa region identified a Rift Valley fever hyperendemic region in
Southwestern Uganda characterised by atypical sustained weekly detection of
acute human Rift Valley fever cases at local hospitals for almost two years.
Preliminary epidemiologic and modelling evidence points at climatic variations,
among other factors, as being responsible for emergence of such location with
high disease activity; locations that may be ideal for a vaccine efficacy
trial.”
Professor
Blandina Mmbaga, Director of Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute, working as Principal
Investigator of the REMIT project, says “We are very excited to lead this
international consortium that brings together expertise from human and animal
health, vector biology and social sciences, and builds on preliminary work that
we have carried out on the epidemiology and modelling of Rift Valley fever in
eastern, southern and west Africa. The project will not only generate important
information for the design of future human vaccine trials but will also help us
understand how best to integrate human vaccination with other measures for
effective control of the disease.”
Both
groups will take a ‘One Health’ approach, combining historical and current data
to better understand how Rift Valley fever virus spreads in the environment and
in animal populations, and potential spillover into people. The teams will also
look at who and where is most at risk of disease, and consider factors such as the
changing movement of livestock and extreme weather events that are thought to
be expanding
the disease’s range and frequency of outbreaks.
In line with CEPI’s Equitable Access Policy, the research
consortiums will publish their findings in open-access publications for the
benefit of the global scientific community. Data informing the analysis tools
and early warning systems for Rift Valley fever outbreaks developed as part of
the projects will be made available open-access on project completion.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Consortium members of the research led by
Washington State University Global Health University in Kenya, known as the Rift Valley fever vaccine
efficacy trial studies (RVF-VETS) in East Africa project,
include:
·
International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI), Kenya
·
Uganda Virus Research Institute
(UVRI, Uganda
·
National Institute of Medical Research
(NIMR), Tanzania
·
Kenya Medical Research
Institute/Wellcome Trust, Kenya
·
University of Idaho, USA
·
University of Oxford, UK
·
Washington State University, US
The RVF-VETS project will receive up
to $6.2 million funding from CEPI.
The project will input data reporting on the number
infections in livestock and people in East Africa into a computer model
alongside information on predicted climate variations in the region. The
project aims to predict the location of Rift Valley fever outbreak hotspots
across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda—countries already with a known high burden of
Rift Valley fever cases. – which may be suitable sites for a vaccine efficacy
study.
Consortium members of the research led by
Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute, known as the Rift Valley Fever Epidemiology and Modelling to Inform Vaccine Efficacy
Trials (REMIT) project, include:
·
University of Glasgow, UK
·
University of Otago, New
Zealand
·
Tanzania Veterinary
Laboratory Agency, Tanzania
·
University of Pretoria,
South Africa
·
National Institute for
Communicable Diseases, South Africa
·
MRC The Gambia, The Gambia
·
One Health Research
Consulting, USA
·
Ifakara Health Institute,
Tanzania
·
Washington State University,
USA
·
Global Health Tanzania, Tanzania
The REMIT project will receive up to $3.4
million funding from CEPI.
The project will incorporate additional datasets
from South and West Africa into their work. By combining a range of data from
the wider continent and building on dynamic and spatial models of Rift Valley
fever, the researchers aim to predict where, when and how frequently human Rift
Valley fever cases may occur across Africa as a whole. The team will also examine whether reports of
livestock affected with Rift Valley fever could act as an early warning system
for new human outbreaks and will explore people’s perceptions and attitudes to
Rift Valley fever vaccination.
Given the complex nature of Rift Valley fever
transmission, both projects will take a One Health approach to their work,
recognising that the health of people, livestock, wildlife and climate are
closely linked and interdependent. The projects will run for a two-year period.
The REMIT project will be supported by the the Director for Preventive Services (DPS) within the Ministry of Health
and the Director for Veterinary Services (DVS) within the Ministry of Livestock
within the Government of Tanzania. The expected results will contribute to the
Tanzanian Government’s effort towards Rift Valley fever and other priority
disease eradication in the country.
About Rift Valley fever
Rift Valley fever is a mosquito-borne viral
illness of humans and livestock, including cattle, sheep, camels and goats. It
was first discovered in Kenya’s Rift Valley in 1930, but in recent decades
has been detected in many African countries and parts of the Middle
East. Because of its impact on both people and animals, Rift Valley fever
has profound human health impacts – affecting both lives and livelihoods
directly. Rift Valley fever is recognised as a priority disease by the World
Health Organization, Africa CDC and World Animal Health
Organisation (WOAH). Outbreaks
of Rift Valley fever have been consistently linked with intense periods of
rainfall and flooding, including those caused by the El Niño phenomenon. Heavy
rain provides ideal conditions for Rift Valley fever and promotes infected
mosquito breeding and hatching.
Although vaccines against Rift Valley fever have
been registered for animals, no vaccines are currently available or licensed
for human use. CEPI first invested in the development of human
Rift Valley fever vaccines, with funding support from the European Union
Horizon programmes, in 2019. CEPI is now supporting four diverse human Rift
Valley fever vaccine candidates.
As climate change persists, expanding the range
of mosquitoes and increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events such as
flooding, there is a risk that Rift Valley fever outbreaks will become more
frequent and widespread making a protective human vaccine all the more urgent.
About CEPI
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private,
philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the
development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and
pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI has
supported the development of more than 60 vaccine candidates or platform
technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X.
Central to CEPI’s pandemic-beating plan is the ‘100 Days Mission’ to compress
the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against
new threats to just 100 days.
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