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Takes Shot at VaccineBy GREG GITTRICH Daily News Staff Writer
The city's pesticide war on mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus could become obsolete with the dawn of an inexpensive, single-dose vaccine.
Federal health officials spearheading a stepped-up fight against the West Nile virus recently awarded OraVax Inc., a small biotechnology firm in Massachusetts, a $3 million grant to speed along creation of a vaccine.
"The West Nile virus is going to be a bigger problem than we had hoped," said James Meegan, an allergy and infectious diseases expert at the National Institutes of Health. "The virus is evevolving and establishing its ecological niche. We are concerned it will be an increased public health problem in years to come."
Federal health officials say they will recommend that anyone in the high-risk group - children and the elderly - take the vaccine.
Unlike an annual flu shot, the oral vaccine would be taken only once, at $25 to $100 per dose. Like other vaccines, it would carry a small risk of causing infection, OraVax officials said.
Environmentalists insist the West Nile virus, which killed seven elderly people last year and has sickened three elderly people this summer, is not a public health threat and a vaccine is not needed.
"This virus is less dangerous than the flu," said Robert Lederman of the No-Spray Coalition. "The only people who are likely to get any more than a headache from it are people with severely compromised immune systems."
But the feds say a vaccine is an important defense against a dangerous virus that is spreading.
Using a cutting-edge genetic engineering technique, OraVax is altering a vaccine for yellow fever to work against West Nile.
"We are quite confident that it will work," said Dr. Thomas Monath, OraVax vice president of research and medical affairs.
Human testing is expected to begin in 18 months, OraVax officials said. The feds think it will be sooner.
Other researchers are rushing to create a West Nile vaccine but no one is as far along as OraVax, Meegan said. The National Institutes of Health also has funded testing of several new antiviral drugs to determine if any will treat West Nile. Some of the drugs, including ribavirin, have shown signs of success but have not been tested on humans.
Original Publication Date: 8/21/00
======== End of NY Daily News article ========
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about the Giuliani connection to OraVax!To a Directory of Mr.Lederman's Essays
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