Health
Vaccine may prevent mononucleosis
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 7, 2008
Three shots of recombinant Epstein-Barr virus glycoprotein 350 may provide protection against mononucleosis, according to a study appearing in the Dec. 15, 2007, Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Researchers with Catholic University in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmith-Kline Biologicals; and pharmaceutical company Henogen randomized 181 healthy adults to receive a placebo or this immunization. After 18 months, nearly all who received the vaccine remained antibody positive. Two of them were sickened by the virus, far fewer than the nine people in the control group who became ill. No significant adverse events were reported.
The authors said that the results of this phase II trial indicate the need to move the research to the next level.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/01/07/hlbf0107.htm.