Searching for a vaccine to the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses - CSIRO's Dr Bruce Mungall.

Vaccine in sight for Hendra and Nipah Virus

Reference: 06/36

Scientists are testing a new vaccine that shows promise of a breakthrough in preventing infection by the deadly Hendra and Nipah viruses.

• 27 February 2006

CSIRO scientists are testing a new vaccine that shows promise of a breakthrough in preventing infection by the deadly Hendra and Nipah viruses.

The two closely related viruses – thought to be harboured by flying foxes – pose a significant human health risk.

Hendra virus killed two people and 16 horses in Queensland in 1994-95 while an outbreak of the Nipah virus was responsible for more than 100 deaths in Malaysia in 1999.

Researchers at CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) have been working since 2004 in collaboration with US scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop potent anti-viral therapies. 

The co-inventor of the anti-viral drugs and new vaccine candidate, Dr. Katharine Bossart, recently relocated from the US to join the team at AAHL.  Together with CSIRO’s Dr Bruce Mungall the team has been producing and testing the new vaccine at AAHL’s high-security laboratory in Geelong and results were recently reported at an Australian Virology Group meeting held on Phillip Island.

Dr Mungall says both viruses have continued to re-emerge since 2001. Outbreaks of Nipah in Bangladesh during the past two years have killed 61 of the 97 people infected. In the 2005 outbreak, 92 per cent of infected patients died.

‘There is evidence that the recent Bangladesh outbreaks have involved not only direct-bat to-human transmission but most likely human-to-human transmission for the first time,’ Dr Mungall says. ‘This dramatically changes the level of concern associated with this virus.

‘There are currently no vaccines available for Hendra virus or Nipah virus and no anti-viral drugs available to treat these types of viruses in general.’

Animals immunised with a component prepared from the virus are effectively protected against infection.

‘Because these viruses are so similar, immunisation with the component from either Hendra or Nipah protected against challenge from both.  That was a real bonus, indicating that a single vaccine may be effective against both viruses.’

Dr Mungall says this is a crucial first step towards developing a vaccine.  Further studies over the next two years will determine the most effective way to use this new therapy.

Once developed the treatments will protect people from infection by Hendra or Nipah virus.