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August 2, 2002
INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"UK to Test Gene Modified Bacterium Vaccine"
Reuters ( www.reuters.com ) (07/31/02)
Biotechnology firm Acambis has received approval from the British
government to conduct the first human trials of a vaccine
containing a genetically modified (GM) bacterium. The oral
vaccine against traveler's diarrhea is already in early clinical
testing in the United States, but it was kept out of testing in
Britain due to stricter rules about GM organisms. Acambis' work
to develop the vaccine included deleting genes from strains of
Escherichia coli, which is known to cause traveler's diarrhea, in
an effort to reduce the bacterium's ability to cause diarrhea
while still generating an immune response.
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