Vaccines for emerging infectious diseases: Lessons from MERS coronavirus and Zika virus

• Published in: Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics Vol. 13; no. 12; pp. 2918 - 2930
• Main Author: Maslow, Joel N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 02.12.2017; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Communicable Diseases, Emerging - prevention & control; coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; DNA vaccine; Drug Discovery - methods; Drug Discovery - organization & administration; emerging infectious disease; epidemic; epidemiology; flavivirus; Humans; MERS-CoV; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - immunology; Research Paper; vaccine; Viral Vaccines - immunology; Viral Vaccines - isolation & purification; Zika virus; Zika Virus - immunology; Zika Virus Infection - epidemiology; Zika Virus Infection - prevention & control; DNA vaccine; emerging infectious disease; epidemiology; vaccine; epidemic; coronavirus; MERS-CoV; Zika virus; flavivirus
• ISSN: 2164-5515; 2164-554X
• DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2017.1358325

The past decade and a half has been characterized by numerous emerging infectious diseases. With each new threat, there has been a call for rapid vaccine development. Pathogens such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the Zika virus represent either new viral entities or viruses emergent in new geographic locales and characterized by novel complications. Both serve as paradigms for the global spread that can accompany new pathogens. In this paper, we review the epidemiology and pathogenesis of MERS-CoV and Zika virus with respect to vaccine development. The challenges in vaccine development and the approach to clinical trial design to test vaccine candidates for disease entities with a changing epidemiology are discussed.