“An Oxford-designed vaccine for Nipah virus has launched phase two trials, in a ‘major milestone’ for efforts to curb the deadly pathogen and boost pandemic preparedness.

The disease – which inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Contagion – is rare but extremely deadly, with a fatality rate as high as 75 per cent. The World Health Organization considers it a priority pathogen for research, as no vaccines or treatments currently exist to tackle it.

This month a jab developed by the University of Oxford, which uses the same ChAdOx platform as the institution’s Covid-19 shot, became the first Nipah vaccine candidate to enter phase two clinical trials to assess safety and the immune response.

It is also the first vaccine to be trialled in a region directly affected by the virus. Bangladesh has sporadic outbreaks every year, with Nipah mostly spreading from fruit bats to people via contaminated raw date palm sap – although some human-to-human transmission through bodily fluids is also possible.”

From Telegraph.