Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 7 January 2020
Century-old TB vaccine

may work better if

given in a new way

By LAURAN NEERGAARD inhaled through a mask.
AP Medical Writer Six months after the vac-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sci- cinations, the research-
entists think they've figured ers delivered TB bacteria
out how to make a centu- straight into the animals'
ry-old tuberculosis vaccine lungs and watched for in-
far more protective: Simply fection. Monkeys given
give the shot a different today's standard skin shot,
way. even with a higher dose,
In a study with monkeys, in- were only slightly more pro-
jecting the vaccine straight tected than unvaccinat-
into the bloodstream dra- ed animals, and the mist
matically improved its ef- wasn't too effective, either.
fectiveness over today's But in 9 of 10 monkeys, a
skin-deep shot, researchers higher-than-usual vaccine
reported Wednesday. dose injected into a vein
"This offers hope," although worked much better, the In this Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, photo, Jack McTiernan, a student with New Harmony High School,
more safety studies are re- researchers reported in the works on a restoration project with Tricia LeBlanc, left, wetland park program director, at the
Sankofa Wetland Park and Nature Trail in the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood in New Orleans.
quired before testing the journal Nature. The team Associated Press
approach in people, said found no trace of infection
Dr. Robert Seder of the Na- in six of the animals and
tional Institutes of Health, a counted very low levels of New high school puts focus on
senior author of the study. TB bacteria in the lungs of
1.7 million people a year, Why? The hypothesis is that environment, climate change
kills
Tuberculosis
about three.
mostly in poor countries. key immune cells called
The only vaccine, called T cells have to swarm the By STACEY PLAISANCE Besid es their traditional at sustainable restaurants
the BCG vaccine, is used lungs to kill off TB bacteria Associated Press classes in ma th, literature where they learn firsthand
mainly in high-risk areas to and can do so more quick- NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A and history, New Harmony about composting, recy-
protect babies from one ly when the vaccine is car- new high school in New Or- students take science class- cling, ways to minimize en-
form of the disease. But it's ried rapidly around the leans is preparing students es that tackle environmen- ergy use and avoid use of
far less effective at protect- body via the bloodstream. for careers in coastal pro- tal issues. The school cur- plastics.
ing teens and adults from Sure enough, tests showed tection and restoration, an- rently has grades nine and New Harmony is a state
the main threat, TB in the more active T cells linger- ticipating a future with on- ten with plans to expand to charter school situated in
lungs. ing in the lungs of monkeys going climate change and 11th and 12th grades. a former private church
Most vaccines are shots vaccinated the new way. sea level rise. "I really like getting to learn school in New Orleans. It
jabbed in the muscle or The findings are striking, New Harmony High School alongside the other stu- was founded by a group
skin. Seder came up with showing that how a vac- opened in the fall of 2018 dents about the problems of educators and environ-
the idea of IV immuniza- cine is given "clearly af- and currently serves about we have that affect every- mental scientists who initial-
tion a few years ago, with fects immunity," University 100 south Louisiana stu- one else in the world, not ly wanted to put the school
experiments showing a of Massachusetts TB spe- dents, including 14-year- even just in the U.S.," Miller on a barge that would take
malaria vaccine candi- cialists Samuel Behar and old Mei Miller. She com- said. students up and down the
date worked better when Chris Sassetti, who weren't mutes 30 miles (50 kilome- The school's mission is in- Mississippi River from New
injected into a vein. He involved in the study, wrote ters) one-way from her tricately tied to the state's Orleans to the Gulf of Mex-
wondered if the TB vaccine in an accompanying edi- home in Slidell, Louisiana, future. A multitude of issues ico. That plan proved too
would react the same way. torial. Still, giving a vaccine to attend New Harmony. from the leveeing of the Mis- costly, said Anthony Burrell,
Researchers at NIH teamed intravenously isn't nearly as Though just a freshman, sissippi River to oil and gas the school's community co-
with the University of Pitts- easy as other kinds of shots, Miller said, she already development have made ordinator.
burgh to study certain mon- they cautioned. knows she would like to be Louisiana ground zero for But the mission is the same,
keys, rhesus macaques, Seder said additional safe- an engineer working on re- coastal land loss. The state he said. Students spend
that react to TB infection ty research is underway in newable energy sources estimates that it has lost just time outside the classroom
much like people do. They animals, with hopes of be- and coastal restoration. over 2,000 square miles of each week participating in
tested a variety of ways to ginning a first-step study "I think that things like wind land (5,200 square kilome- field trips, internships and
give the TB vaccine, includ- in people in about 18 turbines or solar panels are ters) — a tract about the service projects related to
ing a mist that the monkeys months.q really, really important for size of Delaware — since sustainability, sea-level rise
us to be focusing on," Miller 1932. and other effects of cli-
said. "The main problem is So many New Harmony mate change in the com-
that people don't want to assignments and projects munity.
spend the money on that, deal with coastal restora- A recent project at the
which really needs to be tion and protection. Sankofa Wetland Park and
changed. People need to Besides the classroom work, Nature Trail in the city's
see that the issue is bigger students spend one day a Lower 9th Ward neighbor-
than the cost." week off-campus interning hood has been putting the
Miller said she would also with environmentally con- students' skills to work on
like to see more big busi- scious businesses and orga- a project that aims to ad-
nesses with money take the nizations in the community. dress the city's water chal-
lead on green energy. Some plant trees or intern lenges. q