This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Investigational vaccine effective against norovirus
Atmar RL.N Engl J Med. 2011;365:2178-2187.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Two doses of an intranasal vaccine containing norovirus virus-like particles significantly reduced the frequencies of both Norwalk virus-associated infection and illness, according to new findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“The increasing recognition of noroviruses as causes of disease and the limited success in preventing outbreaks of illness have led to the consideration of vaccines as a potential means for disease control,” Robert L. Atmar, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine, and colleagues wrote in the study. “This study shows that it may be possible to use a vaccination strategy to prevent norovirus disease.”
For the double blind, placebo-controlled trial, Atmar and colleagues evaluated the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of an investigational norovirus virus-like particle vaccine to prevent acute viral gastroenteritis caused by the Norwalk virus.
Healthy adults (n=98) aged 18 to 50 years were randomly assigned to receive two doses intranasally 3 weeks apart of either vaccine (n=50), placebo (n=48) or both (n=90). Participants were then immunized with Norwalk virus and monitored for infection and gastroenteritis symptoms.
Compared with 69% of those in the placebo-only group, Norwalk virus gastroenteritis occurred in only 37% of vaccine recipients (P=.006); and Norwalk virus infection occurred in 82% of placebo recipients vs. 61% of vaccine recipients (P=.05).
In addition, the researchers observed an increase of 4 in serum antibody levels among 70% of vaccine recipients. Adverse events were similar between the groups and included nasal stuffiness, nasal discharge and sneezing.
“This study was a proof-of-principle study to assess whether vaccination can prevent norovirus infection and illness under ideal circumstances (healthy adult study population, short interval from completion of vaccination to exposure to virus, challenge with the same virus strain that was in the vaccine),” Atmar told Infectious Disease News. “Future studies will assess whether protection can be increased, how long protection lasts, and how well the vaccine protects following natural exposure, in other populations (ie, older adults, children, immunocompromised patients) and against strains that are different than the one(s) in the vaccine.” –by Ashley DeNyse
Disclosure: This research was funded by LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals and the NIH.
Noroviruses cause half of all foodborne enteric disease in the United States and an important percentage of waterborne outbreaks. As rotavirus gastroenteritis is controlled by vaccines, noroviruses are likely to take their place as the important causes of pediatric enteric illness. There is no vaccine for this group of viruses. Atmar and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine have worked to develop a means of possible immunologic control of gastroenteritis due to noroviruses in persons at high-risk using genotype-specific virus-like particles given intranasally to susceptible adults.
- Herbert L. DuPont, MD
Infectious Disease News Editorial Board member
Disclosure: Dr. DuPont reports no relevant financial disclosures.
 |
Follow InfectiousDiseaseNews.com on Twitter. |