A team of American scientists was able to use artificial intelligence techniques to develop experimental vaccines against gonorrhea.
According to the available information, a team of scientists led by Sanjay Ram, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was able to develop a test against gonorrhea, and during the development of vaccines they used artificial intelligence techniques developed by the Danish startup EVAXION Biotech, which was software capable of analyzing virtual interactions. Between the immune system and pathogens, including bacterial proteins that cause the disease.
Scientists used software algorithms to analyze proteins from the ten most common strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria, which is considered the causative agent of gonorrhea. Artificial intelligence selected the 26 most active proteins in these types of bacteria, and thus the researchers were able to develop 11 experimental vaccines based on the results. tests, and then tested the prototypes on mice.
The most effective test vaccine was the vaccine based on the proteins NGO1549 and NGO0265. The introduction of these proteins into the body of mice led to the formation of antibodies capable of neutralizing more than 50 common types of agents that cause gonorrhea. This vaccine proved particularly effective in combating the "immune" strain. H041, which cannot be treated with antibiotics, which gives hope for further testing to develop effective vaccines against gonorrhea, especially treatment-resistant strains of the disease.
Scientists warn of a doubling of the number of deaths resulting from 4 animal-borne diseases!
A team of researchers fear that four diseases that spread from animals to humans will kill 12 times as many people in 2050 than in 2020.
Experts from the US biotechnology company Ginkgo Bioworks called for “urgent action” to address the risks to global public health.
They warn that human epidemics caused by zoonotic diseases - also known as spillover effects - could be more frequent in the future due to climate change and deforestation, which exposes humans to wild animals more frequently.
The team's analysis looked at historical trends for four specific viral pathogens.
These were filoviruses, which include Ebola, Marburg, SARS (the Covid strain), Nipah, and Machupo (which causes Bolivian hemorrhagic fever).
The study did not include Covid, which caused the global pandemic in 2020 and likely originated in bats.
It looked at more than 3,000 outbreaks between 1963 and 2019, and identified 75 spillover events in 24 countries.
The database covered epidemics reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), and outbreaks that occurred since 1963.
The events caused the death of 17,232 people, including 15,771 deaths due to filoviruses, most of which occurred in Africa.
The researchers said that epidemics are increasing by approximately 5% every year.
They added: "If these annual rates of increase continue, we expect the pathogens analyzed to cause four times as many spillover events, and 12 times as many deaths, by 2050 than in 2020."
The researchers also suggested that the numbers were likely an underestimate due to the strict inclusion criteria for pathogens in the analysis.
The team added that "urgent action is needed to address a significant and growing threat to global health" based on historical trends.
The results were published in the journal BMJ Global Health.