AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY
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NEW ORAL VACCINE OFFERS RELIEF FOR TRAVELER'S DIARRHEA

WASHINGTON, DC - December 16, 2005 -- A new oral vaccine offering protection against moderate to severe forms of traveler's diarrhea was found to be effective in U.S. adults traveling to Guatemala and Mexico, researchers report today at the 45th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

Traveler's diarrhea (TD) is the leading cause of illness among international travelers to developing countries and is acquired through consumption of contaminated food and water. The bacterium enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is believed to be the primary cause of the disease, which may affect up to 50 percent of an estimated 60 million people traveling from industrialized countries to high-risk areas in the developing world. Up to this point the only treatment available has been an oral vaccine offering minimal short term protection.

"ETEC is usually responsible for 22-60 percent of all TD cases in both civilian and military groups or about 7-18 million cases per year," says August Bourgeois of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who presented the research.

In the study, a vaccine designed to protect against the most common antigens expressed by ETEC strains causing TD, as well as against a heat-sensitive toxin called LT, was administered in a 2-dose regimen 7 to 21 days apart. Out of the 1,406 participants who traveled and completed 14 to 28 days of surveillance, the overall rate of TD was 34 percent in Guatemala and 22.5 percent in Mexico. The vaccine was found to cause minimal side effects such as mild nausea and abdominal pain.

"Based on these very encouraging results, this vaccine deserves further development," says Bourgeois. "The excellent safety profile and relatively simple formulation makes this one of the few vaccines under study that may be practical for use in adult travelers, as well as in young children and infants at risk for ETEC in the developing world."

Known as one of the premier infectious disease meetings in the world, ICAAC, a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, is a rich source of news including the latest public health research and new drugs. More information on 45th ICAAC, being held this year from December 16-19 in Washington, DC, can be found in the online press kit (English only) at http://www.asm.org/Media/index.asp?bid=38551.

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