Episode Description:

In this week’s episode, Arielle and Karissa gab about two groundbreaking medical solutions changing lives: a one-time gene therapy that helps children with ADA-SCID develop healthy immune systems, and new pediatric guidelines that could drastically reduce peanut allergies. Plus, meet this week’s inspiring Local Changemakers — the Oregon senior dog rescue, Silver Linings Rescue Ranch, and PeaceCYCLE — both proving compassion can fuel sustainability and hope.

Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary.

Subscribe to our FREE Daily Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky.

The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy.

Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http://

Transcript:

Theme music 

Arielle 

Hello, and welcome to the Optimist Daily’s weekly roundup. I’m Arielle. 

Karissa 

And I’m Karissa. And we’re working hard to put solutions in view and optimism in movement. 

Arielle 

Hello, everyone. We are back with another episode of our pod to share the solutions from the Optimist Daily this week. And just so you guys know, it will be our last episode before a fall break for two weeks. So, we’re not going to be gone for too long. It’s just a little pause. 

Karissa 

In the meantime, if you want our solutions, you can sign up for our free daily newsletter to get all of this positive news straight to your inbox. 

Arielle 

Yes, and we are also on socials like X, Pinterest, Instagram, Blue Sky… all of that fun stuff. We are @OptimistDaily on basically everything. The only difference is on X. There we are @OdeToOptimism. 

Karissa 

We want to shout out our Emissaries who are our financial supporters. They help us bring our mission of putting optimism out into the world to life. And if you want to find out how you can also financially support us, the link is in the show notes. 

Arielle 

We also really appreciate everyone who just listens to this podcast or forwards the newsletter if they get it, interacts with us on social media. All of those are really valuable non-financial ways to support our mission. 

Karissa 

Well, we’re switching things up this weeK Instead of doing I’m An Optimist, But… because we’ve got something really special to announce. 

Arielle 

Today is the official launch of our Local Changemaker series on OptimistDaily.com. So, every Friday for the next 5 weeks, we’re highlighting people and organizations doing seriously inspiring work in their communities. And the fun part is that you guys, our fellow optimists, have nominated them. 

Karissa 

This first week’s theme is all about compassion-driven sustainability and care for the overlooked. And we’ve got two beautiful stories to start things off. 

Arielle 

One is about a senior dog rescue in Oregon that’s giving older pups a second chance at love. And the other takes us to Haiti, where PeaceCYCLE is turning discarded plastics into jobs, dignity, and really cool upcycled goods. 

Karissa 

We won’t spoil the full stories here, but you can read them now on the website. 

Arielle 

And we’re hoping to get some of these changemakers on the podcast next year for interviews, which is really exciting. But for now, just head to the website and look for the Local Changemakers series. Actually, better yet, we’ll link this week’s Changemakers in the show notes too. 

Karissa 

Yep, super exciting! 

Arielle 

All right, well, I guess I’ll just jump into my solution. 

Karissa 

Yeah, Arielle, what caught your eye this week? 

Arielle 

Okay, so I’m going to talk about something that offers a solution for a problem that has fascinated me since that movie Bubble Boy came out. Do you know the one with, like, Jake Gyllenhaal? 

Karissa 

Okay, I actually have never seen it, but I know the concept of it. He kind of stays in a bubble, right? 

Arielle 

Yes, yeah, exactly. I think it came out in the early 2000s, so I must have been in grade school.  

Karissa 

Yeah.  

Arielle

Anyway, I know this sounds really random, but I promise it’s related. So, for the listeners who don’t know, basically Bubble Boy is about this young guy whose immune system doesn’t work, so he spends all his time indoors in this sterile plastic bubble. But then the girl he likes gets engaged to this awful guy, and he goes on this mission to stop her, in the bubble, of course. I don’t think the movie was very good, to be honest. But what piqued my interest about it is that this condition, though very rare, is real, and it’s called severe combined immunodeficiency, or S-C-I-D. “SID” (phonetic pronunciation), I suppose, for short. For kids born with it. Everyday germs can be life-threatening because their immune systems just don’t work. Untreated, most won’t survive past the age of two. Most fascinating of all is that in the ’70s, there was a real bubble boy named David Vett who spent his life confined to this NASA-designed plastic bubble to keep him in a germ-free environment. He sadly passed at the age of 12 due to unforeseen complications with a bone marrow transplant, which is one of the ways people with this condition can be treated. But there have been serious advancements in SCID treatment since David Vett’s day. And before I get into my actual solution, which you all have probably guessed has to do with a new treatment for this condition, it’s worth mentioning that a lot of the progress and research has been made possible because specialists were able to study Vet and others like him. 

Karissa 

Yeah, that’s pretty interesting. And I know the concept of living in a bubble has been portrayed in different shows too. I’m thinking of the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. 

Arielle 

Did they have an episode of that? 

Karissa 

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that show… 

Arielle 

Yeah, I did! 

Karissa 

They had an episode, I think, where Cody was, you know, being a germaphobe and wrapped himself up in a bubble or something like that. So that’s like my exposure to the whole bubble concept. And yeah, I’ve heard of the Jake Gyllenhaal one, but yeah, it’s so interesting that this is based on a true story. 

Arielle 

Now to my solution! It’s titled. A one-time gene therapy is helping kids beat a deadly immune disease. According to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, a single-dose gene therapy has been developed for kids with ADA-SCID immune systems. So, 62 children with this specific subset of SCID received the treatment, and every single one of them is alive. 

Karissa 

Every single one? After getting treated just once? 

Arielle 

Yes, with follow-up going back as far as 12 years for some of the patients. One of those kids, Eliana Nachem, got the treatment a decade ago. Her dad said they were in complete lockdown to keep her safe. He’d shower and change clothes before even holding her. But now she’s playing basketball, singing in the choir, and just generally doing great. 

Karissa 

Oh, okay, well that’s such a huge shift. So, what exactly does the treatment involve? 

Arielle 

Okay, so ADA-SCID is a specific type of SCID caused by a mutation in the ADA gene, which leads to a deficiency in the adenosine deaminase, or ADA, enzyme. SCID has multiple causes, but this specific one is uniquely defined by the absence or low levels of the ADA enzyme, leading to a buildup of toxic substances that damage immune cells. How this treatment works is that it starts by collecting the child’s blood stem cells. Scientists then use a lentivirus to insert a working copy of the ADA gene. Those edited cells are reinfused back into the child, giving them the ability to fight infections. It’s a highly targeted correction, and the results so far are lasting. 

Karissa 

And I suppose it’s safer than earlier treatments. 

Arielle 

Yes, alternatives include weekly enzyme injections or bone marrow transplants, which carry more risk. Plus, the team has found a way to freeze and ship the modified cells, which could expand access globally. 

Karissa 

That sounds amazing. There’s always a catch, though, so… 

Arielle 

Yes… the treatment currently runs up to a cool one million euros per patient. I know that that’s high, but as Dr. Donald Kohn, the lead researcher at UCLA, points out, enzyme therapy is also expensive and ongoing, so this one-time treatment could end up being more cost-effective over time. 

Karissa 

Still, commercializing gene therapies for rare diseases is pretty tricky. 

Arielle 

Yes, that’s what happened with Strimvelis, which was another gene therapy. It was developed in Milan, approved in 2016, and showed strong results, but its commercial backers pulled out due to financial concerns. Now, a non-profit helps it keep it available. But one child treated with the Strimvelis did develop leukemia, which obviously raised concerns. But this newer treatment uses lentiviruses instead of retroviruses, which haven’t shown the same side effects. And I wish I could tell you the differences between those two techniques, but I’ll be honest with you, I can’t. I was looking it up, and I just couldn’t get my mind around it well enough to explain it at all. 

Karissa 

Yeah. I mean, it sounds like the science is advancing, but the economics are still catching up. 

Arielle 

That’s what Juan Antonio Bueren from CIEMAT, which is short for Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, which translates to the Research Center for Energy, Environment, and Technology, that’s in Madrid. He pointed out producing gene therapies and doing long-term follow-up is expensive. That’s a hurdle, especially for really rare conditions like this one. 

Karissa 

Yeah, exactly. This latest study feels like a turning point. 

Arielle 

Yes, it’s such a hopeful development. The team behind it has launched a company, Rarity PBC, and secured major funding to develop scalable production. So, there’s some infrastructure being built to support this. Right now, lentivirus-based therapies are being explored for about 15 rare diseases. The challenge will be making them affordable and accessible. 

Karissa 

I can’t help but think of all the little babies who just want a fighting chance at life. None of them should be deprived of such a life-saving treatment. 

Arielle 

Agreed. That’s where the conversation is headed now. How to make sure medical breakthroughs actually reach the people who need them most? 

Karissa 

This is a strong case study in what science can do and definitely a motivation to get the work done to make those solutions equitable. So, hope to see this continue to develop. 

Arielle 

Yeah, this is a really good step in the right direction, but we’ll be needing the price to go down. We’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open to see where the solution heads. And yeah, we’re looking forward to more developments. 

Karissa 

Thanks for sharing. 

Arielle 

Of course, my pleasure. I think your solution also has to do with health? 

Karissa 

Yeah, it does. Kind of a more common condition. It has to do with peanut allergies, which could also make someone feel like they have to live in a bubble as well! Before I dive in a little further, Arielle, have you ever known anyone with a peanut allergy? 

Arielle 

Yes. Some of my really good friends have peanut allergies, and one of them didn’t tell me when we began our friendship. And I bought him a bao bun with peanuts in it! 

Karissa 

Oh no! 

Arielle 

I know. He was like, oh my gosh, this is so good. It tastes so good! And then suddenly he’s like, I can’t feel my tongue. 

Karissa 

Nooo! 

Arielle 

People with peanut allergies, please tell your friends. 

Karissa 

Don’t be shy about it.  

Arielle 

Yeah, I’ve known a couple of people throughout my childhood that had a peanut allergy and always felt super bad. They couldn’t enjoy, like, you know, the classic staple of a PB&J. And they had to be super careful at all times, which is a lot of pressure for a child to be vigilant about. 

Arielle 

Yeah, peanut allergies are no joke. And peanuts are used in so many products and cuisines around the world, from my favorite pastries to granola bars, even, like sauces! It’s pretty easy for this nut to sneak into our food. 

Karissa 

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, the measures to accommodate people with peanut allergies often fall short in public establishments, like schools for one, and at restaurants. And peanut allergies affect over 2% of US children. So, we’re talking well over a million kids just in the United States. 

Arielle 

It’s a pretty common allergy. And as you mentioned, having to be so hypervigilant as a child or, apparently, an adult (laughs) about what you consume could open the doors to anxious feelings or, in the worst case, being bullied for something you can’t control. 

Karissa 

There’s a great emotional side effect that researchers have observed in their studies on the allergy. I took a look at a journal article called The Global Burden of Illness of Peanut Allergy, a comprehensive literature review, and it discussed such points. Additionally, peanut allergies have some more severe side effects, even more so than other food allergies. They include hives, difficulty breathing, or even anaphylaxis. 

Arielle 

Yeah, such a good point. Luckily my friend had his EpiPen on him. 

Karissa 

The allergy has about a 75% to 80% chance of following kids into adulthood, so it makes sense that your friend is still suffering. Other common food allergies are actually more likely to resolve in adulthood. That’s why I was impressed to see this new science-backed solution this week called peanut allergies drop in kids thanks to new early feeding guidelines. 

Arielle 

Sounds like a pretty profound change in pediatric nutrition. What are these new guidelines? 

Karissa 

Newly released research confirms that introducing peanut products to babies as young as four months is not only safe, it’s effective in preventing these potentially life-threatening peanut allergies. 

Arielle 

That seems very young. What was the guideline before? 

Karissa 

Doctors have been warning parents to delay peanut exposure until age 3 for generations now. 

Arielle 

Oh, okay. So, we are talking a pretty significant age difference. 

Karissa 

Exactly. And these updated findings actually started with a study from 2015 where Dr. Gideon Lack and his team at King’s College London published the stirring LEAP, which stands for Learning Early About Peanut Allergy trial. Their findings showed that introducing peanut products in infancy reduced allergy development by more than 80%, and later follow-up revealed about 70% of that protection lasted into adolescence. 

Arielle 

I see. So, what does the newly released research have to add to this finding? 

Karissa 

Well, according to a study published last week in the journal Pediatrics, the rate of peanut allergy among U.S. children aged 0 to 3 has dropped by more than 27% since those 2015 findings, when guidelines first recommended early peanut introduction for only high-risk infants. But after those recommendations were brought in 2017 to apply to all infants, the rate declined by over 40%. 

Arielle 

What a difference a decade has made! But if the findings from those early trials are just now showing promising change, I can imagine that not everyone implemented those 2015 findings right away. 

Karissa 

The new guidelines from 2015 were undeniably hopeful, but uptake was pretty slow. And early surveys showed that just 29% of pediatricians and 65% of allergists were following the updated advice. 

Arielle 

Yeah, I can see how this is a tricky situation after following generations of the same advice. I’d probably also be doubtful. 

Karissa 

Yeah, for many families, the new guidance has required a total shift in thinking. As Tiffany Leon, a registered dietitian and director at Food Allergy Research and Education, FARE, recalls, she introduced peanuts and other allergens early to her two young sons, which was a move that initially shocked her own mother. 

Arielle 

New wisdom can be quite the culture shock. 

Karissa 

Yeah, for real. And additionally, according to an accompanying commentary by Dr. Ruchi Gupta of Northwestern University, confusion over how to safely introduce peanuts outside clinical settings contributed to the hesitation as well. 

Arielle 

Lots of factors at play here. 

Karissa 

Yeah, most definitely. But this new advice goes beyond just the peanut because Dr. David Hill, the lead study author and allergist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, emphasized that today’s advice encourages introducing common allergens between four and six months of age. 

Arielle 

Oh, so more common allergens besides peanuts? 

Karissa 

Yeah. He says that peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and milk-based products should also be included in exposure. 

Arielle 

So, should parents try to screen or test their children before exposing them to these products? 

Karissa 

Not particularly, but parents should definitely consult with their pediatrician if they have concerns. 

Arielle 

And it sounds like continued research, and most importantly, time, are needed to keep reducing the number of peanut allergies. 

Karissa 

Right. The data here is promising, but researchers acknowledge that their findings come from a subset of pediatric practices and may not represent the entire US population, and even broader, of course, a global population. 

Arielle 

But the trend here is clear. Early allergen introduction is gaining traction, and it appears to be making a real impact. 

Karissa 

As always, consult with your own medical professionals in your life when it comes to applying health-related findings like these. 

Arielle 

This is great news. Thank you so much, Karissa, for sharing it. 

Karissa 

And we have some more great news on the Optimist Daily this week too. 

Arielle 

How to mouse-proof your home this fall: 5 entry points to seal and what attracts them. Things to consider when deciding on the perfect Halloween costume. New dementia research highlights 2 surprising risk factors you can address today. 

Karissa 

And The Maldives sets a global milestone by ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B. We also have Spain expands marine protections with six new biodiversity hotspots, 3 common debt myths that might be hurting your finances, and as we mentioned earlier, we have our first round of our Local Changemakers series, How PeaceCYCLE transforms Haiti’s water sachets into sustainable jobs, and Silver Linings Rescue Ranch proves senior dogs deserve love, care, and a new leash on life. 

Arielle 

Well, hopefully all of our listeners will head over to the site and become more inspired and optimistic. 

Karissa 

Hope everyone enjoys the Local Changemakers series. We look forward to talking a little bit more about them when we return in two weeks. But until then, of course, all these solutions and more are on optimistdaily.com. 

Arielle 

All right, well, we’ll be back in two weeks with more solutions. 

Karissa 

Bye, everyone! 

Arielle 

Bye!