Current research for a vaccine against Lassa hemorrhagic fever virus

Warner, Bryce M; Safronetz, David; Stein, Derek R

There has been considerable progress made in the development of preclinical vaccine candidates for the prevention of LF since its original description. Some progress has been made with several non-replication-competent vaccines including alphavirus replicons, 39,40 whole-inactivated LASV, 41 and DNA electroporation. [42] [43] [44] Additionally, therapeutics have been developed that include the preclinical testing of ribavirin and favipiravir. Currently, the best therapeutic strategy against LASV remains favipiravir, which can be administered up to 9 days post-infection in a guinea pig model ( Figure 2B ). 45 Other treatments such as human monoclonal antibodies have been tested in both guinea pigs 37 and NHPs, 38 but are only effective when administered very early in the disease course. With this in mind, some of the best candidates with strong efficacy and immunogenicity for LASV prevention have been based on replication-competent vaccine modalities (Table 1 ).