WebWire, June 19, 2007
DURHAM, N.C. - Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and six other medical centers in the United States, including the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will be running tests to compare an established smallpox vaccine against a newer one that may offer fewer side effects. The question is which will provide the best and quickest protection against a possible terrorist attack using the smallpox virus.
Although the World Health Assembly declared that smallpox was officially eradicated as a disease in 1980, stockpiles of the virus may exist and worries remain that they may fall into the hands of terrorists. Smallpox is a highly contagious disease that causes fever, malaise and severe rash and kills about 30 percent of people infected. There is no effective treatment, said Chip Walter, M.D., who is directing Duke's effort in the trial, which is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The trial, which begins this month, will compare various doses, combinations and dosing schedules of the two vaccines to determine which can stimulate an effective immune response to the virus in the least amount of the time. The established vaccine, called Dryvax®, has been used for decades, but it has rare and serious complications in some individuals, such as severe skin rashes and inflammation of the heart and brain. It is the vaccine given to U.S. soldiers in the Middle East. The newer vaccine, called Imvamune®, appears to lead to a good immune response with fewer side effects. But being new, little is known about the dosing schedule that will lead to the most rapid immune response. Other centers in the trial include University of Iowa, University of Maryland, Saint Louis University, University of Rochester, University Hospitals of Cleveland and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
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