Clinical trials have shown that a new dual-purpose vaccine is safe and effective at creating an immune response to help prevent Lassa fever and rabies in high-risk regions.

臨床試驗顯示，一款新型雙用途疫苗具有安全性與有效性，能產生免疫反應，以協助預防高風險地區的拉沙熱與狂犬病。

In Western and Sub-Saharan Africa, both rabies and Lassa fever are serious health problems. Lassa fever is a disease spread by rodents that causes severe bleeding; the Africa CDC estimates it causes 300,000 infections and 5,000 deaths every year. However, these numbers may be lower than the reality because of poor monitoring. This disease is especially dangerous for pregnant women in their final trimester, where the death rate is over 80%. At the same time, rabies remains a deadly threat because it is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.

在西非與撒哈拉以南非洲，狂犬病與拉沙熱皆為嚴重的健康問題。拉沙熱是一種由齧齒動物傳播、會導致嚴重出血的疾病；非洲疾控中心估計每年造成 30 萬例感染與 5,000 例死亡。然而，由於監測不足，這些數字可能低於實際情況。這種疾病對於處於妊娠末期的孕婦尤其危險，死亡率超過 80%。與此同時，狂犬病依然是致命的威脅，因為一旦出現症狀，幾乎必然導致死亡。

To fight these two threats, researchers from the University of Maryland developed a bivalent vaccine. A study in Nature Medicine tested 54 healthy adults in the US, who received two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart. The results showed that the vaccine was safe and triggered a strong immune response against both viruses. In contrast, the control group only responded to rabies. The researchers are continuing to monitor the participants for a total of 394 days after vaccination.

為了對抗這兩項威脅，馬里蘭大學的研究人員開發了一款二價疫苗。《自然醫學》的一項研究測試了 54 名美國健康成年人，他們每隔 28 天接種一次疫苗，共兩劑。結果顯示，該疫苗具有安全性，且對兩種病毒均觸發了強烈的免疫反應。相比之下，對照組僅對狂犬病有反應。研究人員將繼續監測參與者，直至接種後總共 394 天。

From a practical side, the vaccine can be freeze-dried, which makes it easier to transport to areas that do not have reliable refrigerators. Furthermore, experts warn that climate change may allow the Lassa virus to spread to new areas. Dean Mark Gladwin emphasized that these environmental changes could put approximately 700 million people at risk by the year 2070.

從實際操作面來看，該疫苗可以冷凍乾燥，使其更容易運送到缺乏可靠冰箱的地區。此外，專家警告氣候變遷可能會使拉沙病毒擴散至新地區。院長 Mark Gladwin 強調，這些環境變化可能會在 2070 年前令約 7 億人面臨風險。

The combined vaccine has shown promising initial results. Further clinical trials will be conducted if the immune responses remain strong over time.

該複合疫苗展現了令人鼓舞的初步結果。如果免疫反應隨時間維持強勁，將會進行進一步的臨床試驗。