UPDATE: Norovirus Vaccine

To be honest, this update was 3 months ago but with the holidays, multiple snowstorms and other things going on in life, I haven’t gotten around to keeping up with the norovirus vaccine. I’d like to think that the fact I’m not obsessing over this vaccine is a sign I’m getting over emetophobia but after having a panic attack earlier in the evening, I doubt it.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/oct2810norovirus.html

In the first clinical trial of a norovirus vaccine—in which volunteers were deliberately exposed to the common gastrointestinal virus—the inoculation reduced participants’ risk of illness by 47%, according to results released recently by LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

While I’d like to see the efficacy rate much higher, reducing my risk of norovirus by 47% would mean less panicky situations. In addition to handwashing and other hygienic measures, that would reduce my risk even lower.

The clinical trial, a phase 1/2 study, was conducted at several sites and led by Robert Atmar, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine, as principal investigator, the company reported. The researchers recruited about 90 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 50 and randomly assigned them in double-blind fashion to receive two doses of the vaccine or a placebo, 3 weeks apart.

Three weeks after the second dose, the volunteers were admitted to a nursing unit and given a drink containing live norovirus. They were kept in the unit at least 4 days and afterward were monitored with clinical assessments and stool sampling, the company said.

Probably just the emetophobia in me but it’s hard to imagine anyone would volunteer to take norovirus.

LigoCyte plans to start a larger phase 2 trial next, Beeman said. The company will examine the results of the phase 1 trial of the intramuscular vaccine before deciding whether to use the intramuscular formulation or the intranasal formulation in the phase 2 study, he explained.

This is very good news in that this vaccine is moving forward to Phase 2. In the US, it takes many years and many tests for vaccines to pass FDA approval and many would be vaccines stop dead in their tracks. My guess is that it will be another 5 years or so before this vaccine is available.

While we can’t jump and down for joy just yet, we have something to look forward to and with each passing day, there is one less day of worry.

For more information on norovirus:

CDC technical fact sheet on norovirus

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/norovirus-factsheet.htm