We've also demonstrated that if you give zinc to children, you can improve their immune response to the cholera vaccine. In addition, our work showed that in Dhaka's urban slums, if you give this vaccine to people, they could receive protection from cholera for four years. That's because if you want to look at the efficacy of the vaccine and the immune response it generates, you need to have a population that you can study where the disease is circulating. But it was mostly tested and improved upon here in Bangladesh. Ultimately, the WHO recognized the vaccine's safety and quality in 2001. The oral cholera vaccine was developed with a lot of collaborative effort from all over the world, starting in the late 70's with field trials in the 80's. (Because the bacteria bind to cells in the gut, an oral vaccine is best.) Previously, there were injectable vaccines that did not work very well. Tell me about the role this center has played in developing the cholera vaccine now used throughout the world. There's also a vaccine, and because of soaring global demand for it, the World Health Organization (WHO) made the unprecedented decision last fall to recommend a single dose instead of the regular two-dose regimen to help stretch the limited supply. If untreated with rehydration solutions and/or antibiotics, it can kill people within hours. A few factors appear to be fueling this latest global outbreak: lack of clean water, infrastructure degradation, political instability, climate change and lack of resources due to other medical emergencies like mpox and COVID-19 that have consumed attention and funds.Ĭholera is a bacterial disease that causes diarrhea. Within the last six months, 30 countries have reported cholera outbreaks, ranging from Haiti to Lebanon to Mozambique. Qadri has studied and fought the scourge for much of her decades-long career with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b for short). ![]() "It's a disgrace that we see so much cholera today, including in countries that haven't had the disease for many years," she says. ![]() Firdausi Qadri thinks about the number of cases of cholera in the world today-that ancient disease that still kills tens of thousands each year-she's frustrated. Firdausi Qadri has been engaged in a decades-long battle against a microbial foe - the bacterium that causes cholera.
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