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Vaccines drastically reduced adenovirus burden in military recruits
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After reintroducing vaccines against adenovirus types 4 and 7, there was a 100-fold decline in adenovirus disease burden among US military recruits, new data suggest.
According to the researchers from the Naval Health Research Center, the Ad4 and Ad7 vaccines were administered to all recruits through 1996 and then only during the winter months from 1997 to 1999. From 2000 to 2011, they were not administered because Wyeth halted production. Administration resumed in October 2011 after the US Army contracted with Barr Pharmaceuticals to develop new vaccines, which were approved by the FDA in March 2011.
“Besides preventing unnecessary fatalities, adenovirus vaccines in the recruit population can prevent approximately 13,000 acute febrile illnesses a year and the associated lost training time and health care costs,” the researchers wrote in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “As seen in previous years, even a short relapse or reduction in vaccination has resulted in serious adenovirus outbreaks and several deaths among military trainees.”
Surveillance for febrile respiratory illness took place from 1996 to 2013 at eight military recruit training facilities in the United States. The researchers collected pharyngeal and/or nasal swabs from 20 recruits at each site who sought medical attention for fever and cough or sore throat. They tested the swabs for adenovirus and estimated the number cases during periods of year-round vaccination, seasonal vaccination and no vaccination.
Sixty-four percent of the 58,103 swabs collected were positive for adenovirus. Throughout the time of surveillance, there were significant fluctuations in adenovirus rates. During the non-vaccination period, there were 5.8 cases per 1,000 person-weeks, but after vaccination resumed, there were 0.02 cases per 1,000 person-weeks. During the non-vaccination years, the estimated number of cases per year was 13,518 vs. 60 cases a year after resuming year-round vaccination.
“Ensuring continued vaccine production and sufficient supplies for uninterrupted, year-round vaccination of all recruits should be a public health and fiscal priority for US DoD trainees in the future,” the researchers wrote. “Similarly, these vaccines could significantly reduce [febrile respiratory illness] and adenovirus rates in other foreign military recruits and police trainees who have also experienced adenovirus outbreaks and high burden of disease.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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