Summary of the EmergencyThe Medicine and Biotechnology PMP was established in 2023 following the merger of the AIDS and Infectious Diseases PMP with the Brain and Behavior PMP.
The Medicine and Biotechnology PMP was established in 2023 following the merger of the AIDS and Infectious Diseases PMP with the Brain and Behavior PMP.
The AIDS and Infectious Diseases PMP was established in 1990 in response to the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, identified in the early 1980s following the 1981 report of a unique outbreak of the rare Kaposi's sarcoma (which was previously known to occur endemically in parts of Africa or sporadically in Ashkenazi Jews in parts of Europe) among Caucasian American homosexuals in San Francisco and New York. Virology studies were soon conducted in several laboratories to identify the pathogen (designated Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and develop appropriate molecular diagnostic tools for the rapid identification of HIV- positive individuals, particularly for blood screening. Blood testing was (and is) extremely necessary to prevent virus transmission during blood transfusions in patients requiring immediate transfusions for bleeding episodes (including surgery) and patients requiring blood for chronic bone marrow disorders (e.g., congenital hematological disorders such as thalassemia and hemophilia) or toxic bone marrow damage resulting from medical treatments (including antineoplastic cancer treatment). HIV is a fragile virus, easily inactivated outside the body, making environmental transmission highly unlikely. The virus, in fact, is transmitted almost exclusively directly through infected bodily fluids, particularly blood and semen. At the same time, the source of the pathogen was identified: Central Africa, where the simian virus (SIV), as a zoonotic infection, was transmitted from pauci or asymptomatic chimapzees (immunodeficiency was present only in macaques and other nonhuman primates) to humans. During those years, the PMP for AIDS and Infectious Diseases played a key role, organizing several workshops in Erice and founding the East Africa AIDS Research Center, supported by the World Laboratory. Worthy of note was the 1999 Erice Conference, where the world's leading scientists gathered to call for substantial global involvement in the fight against the unique human retrovirus, sought for over 70 years following the avian sarcoma retroviruses identified in 1911 by Nobel Prize winner Peyton Rous. AIDS-related immunodeficiency was associated with several pathologies, in addition to tumors and cachexia (African slim disease) related to opportunistic pathogens. A peculiar disease was the AIDS-related dementia.
In the 1990s, a new
veterinary epidemic was discovered: bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE). Several experts gathered in Erice,
and these seminars drew attention to
a new zoonotic human disease: the
prion-associated dementia. Prion-based
diseases in cattle cause progressive loss of motor coordination and behavioral problems, in humans cause predominantly neurocognitive
disorders, like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), with memory loss, personality
changes, and frontotemporal dementia. Bernardino Ghetti, one of the leading scientists in
the field, became the coordinator of
the PMP with the discovery of tau
protein aggregates and, in subsequent years, founded the International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias (ISFTD).
Since 2023, the two PMPs have merged into the current Medicine and Biotechnology PMP, which in recent years has focused on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting global pandemic, and once again on neurocognitive brain damages: Brain Fog and long-term COVID- related neurological disorders.
Humanity has been very fortunate in all these epidemic diseases, thanks to rapid biotechnological advances. In the 1980s, within a few years, molecular diagnostic tools were developed for screening all blood materials, and targeted antivirals were developed to inhibit reverse transcriptase activity with newly developed nucleoside and nucleotide analogues, thus interfering with the normal activity of reverse transcriptase. A few years later, new antivirals were developed, particularly the anti-protease drug molecule. At the same time, new formulations have been developed, particularly in India, and daily therapy has gone from 19 pills a day to a single pill a day, as with any chronic disease. Indeed, continued advances in administration are reaching the unexpected goal of a single parenteral administration every six months, and a clinical trial is underway for a single administration even every two years.
No vaccine has yet been developed due to the high mutation rate (nearly 5% per person per year), but pharmacological approaches are producing long-acting molecules for treatment, along with pre- exposure (PreP) and post-exposure (PEP) preventive treatments, which will be able to gradually eradicate the deadly HIV infection. In the case of the COVID pandemic, the rapidity of results has been even greater, with the development of effective vaccine strategies capable of limiting transmission of the airborne pathogen, which can infect the global human population in just a few weeks.
For this
reason, a Medicine PMP without
biotechnological support would not be
very effective. Identifying a new pathogen along with new diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive tools is extremely
important. Preparing for future
epidemics and even pandemics relies on the identification of
the new disease and the rapid
biotechnological development of new defense strategies: the crucial priorities
in dealing with the future biomedical Emergencies.
Medicine and Biotechnology PMP Sessions & WFS Webinars
2025
Session of the Erice Seminars
on Planetary Emergencies
Biomedical discoveries, preventive/therapeutic strategies
and their risks.
2024
Session of the Erice Seminars on Planetary Emergencies
Emerging/Re-emerging infections and neuronal diseases
The session title will link to an additional web page that will include the text report of the summary of
this PMP as well as links to the individual slide presentations.
this PMP as well as links to the individual slide presentations.
2023
Session of the Erice
Seminars on Planetary Emergencies
Origins of the Covid-19 Pandemic
The session
title will link to an additional web page that
will include the text report of
the summary of
this PMP as well as links
to the individual slide presentations.
Panel Team:
|
Chairman |
Co-chairman |
Co-chairman |
Members:
Ishwar Gilada Sam Mbulaiteye Genoveffa Franchini Emanuele Buratti
Felice Iasevoli Sofie Nyström Crispin William Massimo Ciccozzi
Participants:
Emeritus Members:
External Websites
HIV/AIDS Vaccine
Needs of 1999 24th International
Seminar on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies
from the Books of the International Seminars on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies
https://books.google.it/Preview of Proceedings of the International Seminar on Nuclear
War and Planetary
Emergencies 24th Session,
Erice, Italy, 1999 https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/4472#t=aboutBook
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