NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Coadministration of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and parainfluenza virus 3 (PIV3) vaccines to young children appears feasible, according to a report in the December 15th issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
RSV and PIV3 are important causes of serious respiratory tract diseases in infants and young children, the authors explain, and vaccines for both pathogens are immunogenic and well tolerated.
Dr. Robert B. Belshe from Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri and colleagues evaluated the safety of the simultaneous intranasal administration of the RSV and PIV3 vaccines in a phase 1 study of 54 healthy children between 6 and 18 months old who were seronegative for the viruses.
Both the RSV and the PIV3 vaccines induced serum and mucosal antibody, the investigators report, and the frequency of developing neutralizing antibody responses for RSV or serum hemagglutination inhibition antibody responses for PIV3 did not differ significantly between the monovalent and combination vaccine groups.
Shedding of RSV did not differ between children receiving RSV vaccine alone and those receiving RSV vaccine along with PIV3 vaccine, the report indicates. PIV3 shedding, however, was somewhat lower in the combination group than in the PIV3 vaccine-only group.
None of the study subjects experienced a lower respiratory tract infection, the researchers note, and all vaccine recipients manifested a similar spectrum of illnesses to that seen in placebo recipients.
“The present results suggest that bivalent RSV/PIV3 vaccine is feasible to develop,” the authors conclude.
“The results of the present test-of-concept trial provide the framework for future development of bivalent RSV/PIV3 vaccine,” they add.
Source: J Infect Dis 2004;190:2096-2103. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Clinical Trials: Environment and Public Health: Epidemiologic Methods: Evaluation Studies: Health: Health Occupations: Health Services Administration: Medicine: Investigative Techniques: Population Characteristics: Preventive Medicine: Public Health: Quality of Health Care: Specialties, Medical: Epidemiologic Study Characteristics: Clinical Trials, Phase I: Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation: Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms: Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment: Biological Sciences: Health CareCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
