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New Vaccine Prevents Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Healthy Adults in China
Source: Medscape
By: Lowry, Fran
08/23/2010
New research in The Lancet indicates that a recombinant bacterial hepatitis E virus (HEV) vaccine, known as HEV 239, is safe and effective for preventing HEV infection in healthy Chinese adults. As much as one-third of the world’s population may have been infected with HEV. Feng-Cai Zhu, from Jiangsu Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, and colleagues write, “Although most cases are in developing countries, [HEV] is no longer rare and it might be the most common type of acute viral hepatitis in industrialized countries.” The new study included healthy adults, ages 16 to 65 years, randomly assigned to receive three doses of HEV 239 or a placebo in the form of hepatitis B vaccine at months zero, one, and six. Participants were followed up for 19 months to track the primary endpoint, prevention of HEV during 12 months after the third dose. Fifteen participants out of 48,663 in the placebo group developed HEV, while none of the 48,693 in the vaccine group developed HEV, giving the vaccine a 100 percent efficacy rate. The vaccine was safe and well tolerated. with no serious adverse events.
