PHA-Exchange> The World's First TB Vaccine in Eighty Years

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

>The World's First TB Vaccine in Eighty Years
>
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>The first tuberculosis (TB) vaccine to be developed in more than 80 years 
>has passed safety trials and shown encouraging signs that it will work. 
>The vaccine which is much stronger than the current one - BCG - has been 
>developed by British scientists and has the capacity to halt the growth of 
>the disease.
>
>
>The only existing vaccine, BCG is thought to offer protection for around 
>15 years. But it is not effective for everyone. In some parts, only around 
>two thirds of those who receive the vaccination are believed to be 
>protected. Some trials have suggested protection could be as low as 30 per 
>cent.
>
>The new MVA85A vaccine was tested in Oxford, where school children no 
>longer routinely receive BCG.
>
>The researchers now plan to test the research in the developing world. A 
>trial is already underway in The Gambia - where TB is endemic and babies 
>are given BCG within 24 hours of birth. In the UK, BCG is usually 
>administered at the age of 13.
>
>According to the World Health Organisation, someone is infected every 
>second with the bacterium responsible for TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 
>It is present in about a third of the world's population, about two 
>billion people, although the vast majority do not develop the disease.
>
>
>This is an eciting development, especially for poor countries as it could 
>cut costs of transporting and storing vaccines by a huge margin.
>
>

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