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August 16, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Development of an Improved Vaccine for Anthrax"
Journal of Clinical Investigation Online ( www.jci.org ) (07/01/02)
Vol. 110, No. 2, P. 141; Leppla, Stephen H.; Robbins, John B.;
Schneerson, Rachel
The anthrax vaccine available in the United States, BioThrax, is
a vaccine that was created in the 1950s under the name anthrax
vaccine adsorbed (AVA), and is an aluminum hydroxide-adsorbed,
formalin-treated culture supernatant of a toxigenic,
noncapsulated, nonproteolytic Bacillus anthracis strain called
V770-NP1-R. The vaccine was proven to be very effective as early
as the late 1950s, but its drawbacks are many and justify the
search for a more effective one that has fewer problems. Its
consistency has fluctuated because its protective antigen is not
measured during the production process, unlike most vaccines, and
has inconsistencies at the cellular level that often lead to
local and systemic reactions. Lastly, its schedule of five shots
within 12 months and booster shots annually after that is not
very manageable. The trouble with developing an effective
anthrax vaccine is that the most effective vaccine would have to
contain multiple antigens to confer protection against a variety
of proteins encapsulated in the anthrax bacterium, and that will
probably be a third-generation vaccine. A second-generation
vaccine would be comprised mostly of protective antigen to
provide the most protection with a more limited injection cycle
than the current system, and with fewer side effects due to
production variances.
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