The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has issued its advice to the UK government, recommending a routine targeted vaccination programme for the prevention of gonorrhoea and a routine vaccination programme against mpox.

The committee has advised that both programmes should be offered through specialist sexual health services, which can identify those most at risk of infection with bacterial sexually transmitted infections.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), more than 82,000 cases of gonorrhoea were diagnosed in 2022.

Additionally, mpox cases have been on the rise, with over 3,700 new cases being identified in the UK since May 2022.

The targeted vaccination programme for the prevention of gonorrhoea has been recommended to use the 4CMenB vaccine, which is currently used in the routine childhood programme to prevent meningococcal disease, as evidence has shown effectiveness between 32.7% and 42% against gonorrhoea.

Additionally, the disease does not protect itself from infection, meaning that most individuals affected will be reinfected.

After considering cost-effectiveness and the impact on the disease, the JCVI has advised that the programme should primarily target gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), who have the highest rates of gonorrhoea.

In relation to the mpox programme, the committee has recommended that GBMSM at higher risk of developing the mpox infection will be eligible.

The advice will now be considered by the Department of Health and Social Care ministers before implementing policies for new routine immunisation programmes.

If successful, operational details of how the vaccine will be delivered will follow.

Professor Andrew Pollard, chair of the JCVI, said that the MenB vaccination programme to prevent gonorrhoea in England “would be a world first and should significantly help to reduce levels of gonorrhoea, which are currently at a record high.”

Katy Sinka, head of sexually transmitted infections at UKHSA, said: “Any routine vaccination offer to those at highest risk of infection will help prevent any major future outbreaks.”

A new documentary has highlighted the discovery of a promising new target for new treatments of motor neurone disease (MND) made by researchers at University College London (UCL).

The short documentary, Turning the Tide, was funded as part of LifeArc’s MND Translational Fund and other MND charities, as well as the MND scientific community.

Currently affecting around 5,000 people in the UK, MND is a terminal condition that affects the nerve cells – motor neurons – in the brain and spinal cord, which control muscle movement.

Individuals with MND slowly and progressively lose the ability to walk, talk, eat and breathe as the cells die and muscles in the body start to waste away.

The new documentary provides insight into what it is like for those living with MND as well as their hopes for ongoing research in the field.

Researchers at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology identified how the loss of a protein from the nucleus of motor neurons, TDP-43, corrupts the genetic instructions required to produce another key protein, UNC13A, which impacts the normal functioning of the cells.

Furthermore, researchers went on to identify how antisense oligonucleotide technology, a form of gene therapy treatment, could block this process and potentially slow down the progession of MND.

Backed by a £500,000 award from LifeArc, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, the potential treatment works by targeting the cause of the disease at a genetic level by restoring the production of the UNC13A protein.

They aim to secure further funding to advance the UCL research team and kickstart the process of getting a treatment clinically tested for people living with MND.

Stéphane Maikovsky, interim chief executive officer of LifeArc, said: “Funding pioneering research into the disease… is critical to unlock desperately needed treatments for patients.”