Hepatitis E Vaccine Shows Promise
Reported March 1, 2007
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A form of hepatitis common in developing nations of the world may have met its match.
U.S. Army researchers who tested a vaccine against hepatitis E ( HEV) report the vaccine was about 95-percent effective in people who received three doses in six months.
Researchers conducted the study among nearly 1,800 healthy adults in Nepal who were randomly assigned to receive the active vaccinations or placebo vaccinations. After three doses, 69 people had developed HEV — 66 of them in the placebo group and just three in the vaccination group.
Side effects from the vaccination were minor and comparable to those reported with the placebo, although pain at the injection site appeared to be more intense in the group receiving the active vaccinations.
The researchers note HEV is common in developing countries, with pregnant women at especially high risk of contracting the condition. While overall mortality rates are low — about 1 percent to 3 percent — mortality among pregnant women runs as high as 25 percent. Infected women also have an increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2007;356:895-903