- "Dr. Kathryn Edwards, one of the Vanderbilt University
Medical Center researchers testing an avian flu vaccine on older people,
says developing a vaccine is "our best defense" against the disease."
- The University is ONE of FIVE SITES for latest study.
-
- As I stated previously, we do not have the finished pandemic
strain yet, and I am skpetical about the effectivness of a vaccine based
on a 2004 Vietnamese strain.
-
- I am also worried about vaccines that will be developed
using attenuated live virus. Nasal spray vaccines if developed will be
a risk of spreading of virus via shedding virus in nasal moucous secretions.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- Vanderbilt Medical Center To Test Bird Flu
Vaccine
-
- By Claudia Pinto
- Tennessean.com Staff Writer
- 11-10-5
-
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center is one of five hospitals
nationwide that are testing the effectiveness of an avian flu vaccine,
which would be the only real defense against a potential pandemic that
experts say could kill as many as 150 million people.
-
- The avian flu is a contagious disease among birds. But
dozens of people in Southeast Asian countries have become sick and died
from it, typically after tending infected poultry. The fear is that the
virus will mutate, learning to spread from person to person, and grow quickly
out of control unless a vaccine becomes available.
-
- "There is evidence, in at least one situation, where
it has been passed from one person to another," said Dr. Kathryn Edwards,
a Vanderbilt professor of pediatric infectious diseases. "There are
changes occurring every day in the virus. The concern some of us have is
that the regular flu will mix with the avian flu, allowing it to pass very
effectively from human to human.
-
- "Developing an effective vaccine is our best defense.''
-
- Vanderbilt will test the vaccine in adults 65 and older.
It previously has been studied in 450 healthy people ages 18-64 in research
funded by the National Institutes of Health, a federal agency that funds
medical research.
-
- That study, which ended about a month ago, indicates
that the vaccine is safe and appears to be effective. None of the participants
had serious side effects.
-
- The avian flu vaccine works like most vaccines, said
Dr. Tom Talbot, a Vanderbilt assistant professor of medicine. It contains
a dead part of the virus, which tricks the body into believing it's being
attacked by an active virus. The body then produces antibodies to fight
the germs.
-
- The antibodies stay in the body and are able to kill
the real virus if a person later becomes infected.
-
- "The shots won't make people sick," Talbot
said. "It's not a live virus."
-
- The Vanderbilt study will focus on fine-tuning vaccine
dosage to find out what amount produces the best outcome in the elderly.
-
- Participants will receive three shots over six months.
They'll get either high doses of the dead virus, lower doses or a placebo
vaccine, with none of the dead virus. To determine which doses produce
the best outcomes, researchers will draw blood and look at antibody response.
-
- Vanderbilt is seeking 80 healthy people ages 65 and older
to participate. They will begin screening volunteers for the study today
and hope to begin administering the vaccine next week.
-
- "We really need help from our community to solve
this problem," Edwards said.
-
- There have been 62 deaths from the 121 cases of avian
flu in Southeast Asian countries since 2003, according to the World Health
Organization.
-
- Countries that have experienced outbreaks of the avian
flu, such as China, Japan and South Korea, have had to kill hundreds of
millions of chickens and other birds to try to halt the illness.
-
- While Talbot believes the avian flu is a real threat,
he said there's no reason to panic.
-
- "Right now, it's only in the bird population. It's
not even in the bird population on this side of the world. The message
has not gotten out to keep perspective."
-
- While other avian flu vaccines are being created, this
is the only one being tested. The Vanderbilt researchers said the Food
and Drug Administration could approve it within a year and even earlier
if a pandemic does occur.
-
- But Talbot said there's no way to know when it could
strike.
-
- "We use history as a guide. There have been three
pandemics in the last 100 years. The last one was over 35 years ago. We
know we are due for one.
-
- "We don't know if it will hit in six months or six
years, but you want to have it available for when it does hit.''
-
- Vanderbilt's research is being funded by a $10 million
grant from the National Institutes of Health. In addition to Vanderbilt,
UCLA Medical Center, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, University
of Maryland Medical Center and University of Rochester Medical Center are
studying the bird flu vaccine. To volunteer for the Vanderbilt study, call
322-8740.
-
- http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20
051028/NEWS07/510280424/0/FEATURES01
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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