CEPI, MERS, Lassa Fever and Nipah Virus

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a public-private alliance to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to prevent and contain infectious disease epidemics. It has been launched at World Economic Forum (WEF) to develop vaccines for three emerging highly contagious and fatal diseases viz. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-coronavirus, Lassa fever, and Nipah virus.

MERS

MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) or Camel Flu is caused by the MERS-corona virus (MERS-CoV). MERS-CoV is a betacoronavirus derived from bats. It has some striking similarities with SARS virus.  It is a zoonotic disease in which virus infects human probably from camel. It is prevalent in middle east.

Lassa Fever

Lassa fever or Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF) is caused by Lassa virus. This disease is mainly prevalent in West Africa countries such as Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ghana. It results in 5000 deaths every year. It’s a zoonotic disease transmits to human from a species of mouse.

Nipah Virus

Nipah is another emerging zoonotic disease causing severe disease in both humans and animals. The natural host of this virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus. Its outbreak was first identified at a place called Nipah in Malaysia in 1998. In 2004 this disease had spread in Bangladesh due to consumption of infected date palm.