Hantavirus Vaccine Immunogenic In Tests

Initial tests on a small group of volunteers have shown that a US Army-developed, genetically-engineered vaccine against hantavirus is safe and stimulates an immunological response to the organism, according to data presented at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Testing of the vaccine began a year ago.

The Army said that while the vaccine is still experimental, it may be available in about a year for military personnel stationed in South Korea and other areas where hantavirus is endemic. Such a vaccine does not need US Food and Drug Administration approval to be used by the military if the recipients give informed consent.

Army scientists have been trying to develop a hantavirus vaccine for around 10 years, well before the infection first made its presence felt in the USA in 1993, according to Connie Schmaljohn of the Army's Medical Research Unit of Infectious Diseases. About 200,000 cases of kidney disease related to hantavirus infection occur each year, mainly in China, North and South Korea and Russia. Drugs such as ribavirin, which have some efficacy in other types of hemorrhagic viral illness, are not effective against hantavirus.