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May 20, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Clinical Responses to Undiluted and Diluted Smallpox Vaccine" New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.org) (04/25/02) Vol. 346, No. 17, P. 1265; Frey, Sharon E.; Couch, Robert B.
Researchers are trying to determine whether the smallpox vaccine can be successfully diluted because currently not enough supplies exist to vaccinate all Americans in an emergency situation. A recent study compared effectiveness and adverse side effects in undiluted vaccine, a dilution of 1:5, and a dilution of 1:10. Of the 680 people receiving Wyeth Laboratories' Dryvax vaccine, 97.8 had a successful initial vaccination. The success rate did not significantly differ among the three groups. Six of the 15 people who did not respond to the initial vaccination already had neutralizing antibodies in their system. Fever, muscle aches, areas of redness and swelling, and regional lymphadenopathy were among the side effects reported. Local inflammation was greater in people receiving undiluted vaccines. The researchers concluded that smallpox vaccine can be effective when given in a 1:5 dilution.
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