Summary It is easy to argue that vaccine development represents humankind’s most important and successful endeavour, such is the impact that vaccination has had on human morbidity and mortality over the last 200 years. During this time the original method of Jenner and Pasteur, i.e. that of injecting live‐attenuated or inactivated pathogens, has been developed and supplemented with a wide range of alternative approaches which are now in clinical use or under development. These next‐generation technologies have been designed to produce a vaccine that has the effectiveness of the original live‐attenuated and inactivated vaccines, but without the associated risks and limitations. Indeed, the method of development has undoubtedly moved away from Pasteur’s three Is paradigm (isolate, inactivate, inject) towards an approach of rational design, made possible by improved knowledge of the pathogen–host interaction and the mechanisms of the immune system. These novel vaccines have explored methods for targeted delivery of antigenic material, as well as for the control of release profiles, so that dosing regimens can be matched to the time‐lines of immune system stimulation and the realities of health‐care delivery in dispersed populations. The methods by which vaccines are administered are also the subject of intense research in the hope that needle and syringe dosing, with all its associated issues regarding risk of injury, cross‐infection and patient compliance, can be replaced. This review provides a detailed overview of new vaccine vectors as well as information pertaining to the novel delivery platforms under development.

Atlas Genetics has developed a Point-of-Care device for Chlamydia trachomatis utilizing a novel electrochemical detection principle. The assay has a time-to-result of less than 25 minutes. An independent pre-clinical validation study using 306 pre-typed clinical samples determined a clinical sensitivity of 98.1% and specificity of 98.0%.

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The pathogenesis of ricin toxicity following inhalation has been investigated in many animal models, including the non-human primate (predominantly the rhesus macaque), pig, rabbit and rodent. The toxicity and associated pathology described in animal models are broadly similar, but variation appears to exist. This paper reviews the published literature and some of our own unpublished data and describes some of the possible reasons for this variation. Methodological variation is evident, including method of exposure, breathing parameters during exposure, aerosol characteristics, sampling protocols, ricin cultivar, purity and challenge dose and study duration. The model species and strain used represent other significant sources of variation, including differences in macro- and microscopic anatomy, cell biology and function, and immunology. Chronic pathology of ricin toxicity by inhalation, associated with sublethal challenge or lethal challenge and treatment with medical countermeasures, has received less attention in the literature. Fibrosis may follow acute lung injury in survivors. There are advantages and disadvantages to the different models of pulmonary fibrosis. To understand their potential clinical significance, these factors need to be considered when choosing a model for chronic ricin toxicity by inhalation, including species and strain susceptibility to fibrosis, time it takes for fibrosis to develop, the nature of the fibrosis (e.g., self-limiting, progressive, persistent or resolving) and ensuring that the analysis truly represents fibrosis. Understanding the variables and comparative aspects of acute and chronic ricin toxicity by inhalation is important to enable meaningful comparison of results from different studies, and for the investigation of medical countermeasures.

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