Study: Chicken pox shot ineffective

http://www.msnbc.com/news/846256.asp

Study: Chicken pox shot ineffective

Researchers say two vaccinations better than one

ASSOCIATED PRESS


Dec. 12 — A chicken pox outbreak at a day care center two years ago found vaccinations surprisingly ineffective and may suggest that children should get two shots instead of one, researchers say.


		Take our interactive quizzes Sign up for our free health e-newsletter

• eDiets Diet Center

• Shop at B&N.com

• Auctions at uBid

• Yellow Pages

• lavalife.com Where singles click

• MSN Broadband

‘When there are 20 or 30 estimates, we’ll have a better measure of how well it’s truly working.’
— DR. KARIN GALIL
Lead author of the study

DR. KARIN GALIL, lead author of the study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, and other experts said it is much too early to propose such a change.
“When there are 20 or 30 estimates, we’ll have a better measure of how well it’s truly working,” said Galil, who was an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when she studied the outbreak and now works for a company developing a new antibiotic.
Seven earlier studies found the vaccine protected at least 71 percent of the children who got shots from developing the disease and kept the disease minor in nearly all those infected by the virus.

But the latest study tracked by far the worst performance of a vaccine that has cut the number of U.S. chicken pox cases by 80 percent since it was introduced in 1995.
The outbreak was at a day care center near Concord, N.H. A boy who had been vaccinated three years earlier came down with the virus on Dec. 1, 2000. By Jan. 11, 2001, it had spread to 24 other children — including 17 who also had been vaccinated.
New Hampshire does not require chicken pox vaccinations. About two-thirds of the children had been vaccinated; six of the seven unvaccinated children in the boy’s class got sick.

VACCINE LIMITS SEVERITY OF ILLNESS

The vaccine did keep the illness minor, Galil said. One boy was diagnosed with a single blister and developed only two more after that.
In addition, there is evidence the vaccine protects against shingles, a painful skin and nerve infection that strikes decades after chicken pox.
The ailment’s lack of virulence makes it hard to tell how the vaccine is working, said Dr. Harry Keyserling, a pediatrics professor at Emory University School of Medicine and chairman of the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ Vaccine Registry Advisory Committee.

“The problem with breakthrough chicken pox is it’s generally so mild that no one would seek medical attention,” he said. “So unless an organized study is done to look at breakthrough disease after five or 10 years of vaccinations, we won’t have the data that we need to make those types of decisions.”
Keyserling, who was not involved in the study, said the most important finding was that children vaccinated at least three years before being exposed were more likely to get chicken pox than those who had more recent inoculations.

© 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Vaccination News Home Page

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.

Primary Links

User login

Study: Chicken pox shot ineffective