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		Title:   CDC Tests Blood as Possible Anthrax Treatment   Summary:     Blood taken from servicemen and women who have been vaccinated against anthrax may be filtered and used as a treatment in any future anthrax cases, a federal health official said on Monday. Source:  Reuters Online Date:  01/07/2002 22:10 Price:  Free Document Size:  Very Short (0620 words) Document ID:  HC20020107390000016 Subject(s):  Domestic; Non-Washington; General news Author(s):  Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

 
 
 

CDC Tests Blood as Possible Anthrax Treatment

Story Filed: Monday, January 07, 2002 10:10 PM EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Blood taken from servicemen and women who have been vaccinated against anthrax may be filtered and used as a treatment in any future anthrax cases, a federal health official said on Monday.

The blood of vaccinated people contains antibodies that can counteract the deadly toxin made by the anthrax bacteria, said Dr. Brad Perkins, an anthrax expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The issue has taken on new urgency after a series of mailed anthrax attacks that have killed five people and made 13 others sick since Oct. 4, Perkins told a meeting of the Institute of Medicine's committee on anthrax vaccine safety.

He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was deciding whether to let CDC test ways to use the blood as a treatment.

Half a million U.S. servicemen and women have been vaccinated against anthrax, starting with the 1991 Gulf War when it was feared anthrax might be used as a weapon.

Vaccination stopped after problems with the production facilities, and although the vaccine is considered safe, many who got it complained of side-effects. The CDC plans to survey the military about attitudes toward the vaccine.

The CDC is also planning new trials of the vaccine, to see if the current six-shot regimen can be reduced to three shots and still provide protection.

The trial will also test whether a less-painful method of injection, into the muscle instead of under the skin, will work. Perkins said the CDC would seek 1,500 volunteers for the study.

Perkins said CDC had taken 75 one-liter (one quart) units of serum from some of the vaccinated soldiers to use in a range of tests. This included an assay that could be used to show if someone who had been vaccinated was actually immune to anthrax.

``Now this becomes more important on the civilian spectrum as well,'' Perkins told reporters. ``When we started having cases in the United States we realized that we needed to be prepared to use this as an adjunct to antibiotic therapy.''

Antibiotics can cure anthrax, but if a person has the serious inhaled version of the disease, it can be too late to treat it by the time symptoms show.

This is because the anthrax bacteria pump toxins into the system. ``When you get enough toxin in your system, you can kill all the bacteria that you want but it's the toxin that is going to kill you,'' Perkins said.

``The antibodies allow us a way to neutralize the toxin and that's why it is a good combination with the antibiotics,'' Perkins added.

``We are taking serum from people that have been vaccinated.

That serum has high levels of antibody.''

The FDA must approve trials of such a new approach, and Perkins said the agency has a draft proposal under consideration now.

``If someone has inhalational anthrax and they are doing poorly, we can get permission from the FDA to use that to treat people,'' Perkins said. ``We could rush this through if it was necessary.''

Other members of the panel urged the CDC to move quickly.

``If I were a terrorist ... I would be making a good anthrax spore preparation and I would be damned if I would have any antibiotic-susceptible spores in there,'' Dr. Maurice Hilleman told the meeting.

Taking antibiotics can prevent infection even if a person breathes in anthrax spores or gets spores into a cut in the skin.

Thousands of people exposed to spores in the letter attacks took antibiotics for a recommended two months. Some are still taking drugs and the CDC says just over 100 have taken up an offer to get the vaccine -- which has been recommended in case spores are lurking in their bodies.

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