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May 22, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Dose-Related Effects of Smallpox Vaccine"
New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.org) (04/25/02) Vol. 346, No. 17, P. 1275; Frey, Sharon E.; Newman, Frances K.; Cruz, John
To help researchers better understand the effects of smallpox vaccination, a study of 60 healthy adults was conducted involving three dilutions of vaccinia virus vaccine. The double-blind, randomized trial concentrated on the clinical success rates, humoral responses, and virus-specific activity of cytotoxic T cells and interferon-gamma-producing T cells. The three intradermal vaccinations were either an undiluted vaccine, a tenth of the original strength, or a hundredth of the undiluted medicine, each tested in 20 patients. Vaccinia vesicles appeared in 19 of the 20 full vaccine patients, 14 of the second group, and only three patients in the 1:100 dilution cohort. One month after vaccination, 34 of the 36 patients who developed vesicles showed antibody response to smallpox, compared to just one of the 24 patients who had no suggestion of virus replication. Cytotoxic T-cell and interferon-gamma responses were evident in 94 percent of vesicle patients, while a cytotoxic T-cell response was evident in only one non-vesicle patient. The study shows that vaccines made before 1982 are still potent in previously unvaccinated adults.
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