St. Louis University to use volunteers in avian-flu vaccine tests

St. Louis — Bird flu might have flown south of the radar screen, but it’s still a threat to our health.

In the ongoing search for an effective vaccine, researchers at St. Louis University School of Medicine will help test new combinations of vaccines in 500 people to see if the body can build resistance to the dangerous virus.

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KEITH HADLEY/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Six-day-old chickens bunch together in a chicken house in Carrolton. Researchers at St. Louis University are seeking 500 volunteers to help test new vaccines to see if the body can build resistance to the dangerous bird flu virus.

“We don’t know what strain will emerge as the next pandemic and we don’t know when that will happen, but we all believe that will happen sometime,” said Dr. Robert Belshe, director of the school’s Center for Vaccine Development and the study’s principal investigator. “This is preparation for making a vaccine that will be effective in preventing serious illness or death in the event of a bird flu epidemic.”

The U.S. government developed an avian flu vaccine in 2004, but the strains of bird flu now circulating have mutated.

The researchers want to learn if the 6 million doses of stockpiled vaccine from 2004 are still worthwhile, particularly if given along with a booster shot of a newly developed vaccine.

Vaccines stimulate the creation of antibodies that help people fight infections. Participants in the clinical trial will get one or both of the vaccines to see how well they work alone and in combination. They’ll also be tested for differences if the shots are given one, two or four weeks apart.

Although bird flu does not spread easily among people, as of June there have been 385 human cases and 243 deaths, with the majority occurring in Indonesia, Vietnam and China, according to the World Health Organization.

The vaccine study is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The 500 participants will be recruited by research centers in St. Louis, Atlanta and Seattle.

Volunteers should be 18 to 49 years old, healthy and without egg allergies. Participation could involve up to nine visits to the school’s vaccine center over one year. For more information or to volunteer for the study, call 314-977-6333 or send a message to vaccine@slu.edu.

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