thedrifter
02-13-07, 07:25 AM
‘Boot camp flu’ vaccine may be ready by 2009
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : February 19, 2007
Military recruits could be looking forward to one more vaccination by 2009.
A vaccination for adenovirus, often called “boot camp flu,” is in final stages of testing by Duramed Pharmaceuticals, a civilian company that is conducting the tests under Defense Department supervision.
Two sites have been chosen for the tests on incoming service members: Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., which, from 1999 until 2004, had more adenovirus diagnoses than any other military base, and Fort Jackson, S.C.
About 2,000 recruits will be tested at each base this year. Testing will be done only on a volunteer basis, said Cmdr. Kevin Russell, head of the Navy’s respiratory disease laboratory.
If the tests are successful, a vaccine could be ready for all boot camps in late 2008 or 2009.
Adenovirus afflicts thousands of military recruits each year, causing flulike symptoms such as fever, sore throat, coughing, general tiredness and body aches, and typically costs a recruit about one week of training; about 10 percent of recruits exposed to the virus develop pneumonia and miss an additional week of training. The virus kills one or two recruits every year, Russell added.
From 1999 to 2004, a Defense Department study found, about 110,000 cases of febrile respiratory illnesses were diagnosed at eight bases where recruits are trained: Great Lakes; Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island, S.C. and San Diego; Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Coast Guard Station Cape May, N.J.; Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Jackson. Of those, the majority — more than 73,000 cases — were one of two strains of adenovirus.
The vaccination — two pills taken within days after a recruit shows up for training — was first given in 1971, after it proved the most effective of several vaccines tested during the 1960s. It cut adenovirus infections by more than 80 percent.
But when the vaccine’s only manufacturer stopped producing it in 1995, the military began rationing it, vaccinating only recruits who went to basic training during winter months, when more severe outbreaks tended to occur.
The last batch was used in 1999. Since then, no military recruit has been vaccinated, and infection rates have approached pre-vaccination levels.
“The manufacturer stopped producing it for fiscal reasons,” Russell said, adding that the company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, felt that the Defense Department was not willing to pay a fair price for the vaccine.
“The decision-makers at that time felt that respiratory illness wasn’t that big of a problem,” Russell said. “The general view was that we had control of respiratory illness, but that was because of the vaccine.
“It has cost a lot more to bring it back because of the lack of foresight.”
After Defense Department officials decided they needed to restart the vaccination program, a request for bids was put out.
Duramed Pharmaceuticals was chosen to provide the vaccine, and the company has built a manufacturing plant in Forest, Va., where the vaccines could be made.
Defense department planners saw no need to develop a new vaccine.
“We knew that the [old] vaccine worked, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals was willing to transfer vaccines and technology,” Russell said.
But federal government regulations required that the vaccine go through another round of tests because it was to be produced by a different company.
Army Col. Arthur Brown, program manager for the Adenovirus Vaccination Restoration Project, said Pentagon officials expect to pay about $75 million to get the vaccine licensed. The cost for providing an estimated 270,000 vaccinations per year will be negotiated with the new manufacturer after the vaccine is approved, he said.
Adenovirus was first observed in military settings during an outbreak of respiratory illness among Army recruits at Fort Leonard Wood during the winter of 1952-1953, although similar outbreaks of respiratory sickness have been experienced for more than a century, Russell said.
The virus passes quickly among recruits assembled from different parts of the country and kept in confined barracks in a high-stress environment.
Russell said the virus is seldom seen in other high-stress military training environments because people can get it only once before developing immunity. Immunity rates among recruits reporting to basic training average around 30 percent, he said. By the time recruits complete basic training, immunity rates are nearly 100 percent.
The virus is not seen as often in high-stress, crowded civilian areas because those populations tend to be more stable, Russell said.
“Colleges, prisons, a lot of places that you think would be similar don’t have the same problem with the virus,” he said, adding that the constant turnover of recruits during basic training brings a constant source of people who have never been exposed to the virus.
“It’s like throwing timber on the fire every week,” he said. “Recruit camps are very unique, in that every week they have individuals joining that haven’t been exposed to the infection.”
Ellie
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : February 19, 2007
Military recruits could be looking forward to one more vaccination by 2009.
A vaccination for adenovirus, often called “boot camp flu,” is in final stages of testing by Duramed Pharmaceuticals, a civilian company that is conducting the tests under Defense Department supervision.
Two sites have been chosen for the tests on incoming service members: Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., which, from 1999 until 2004, had more adenovirus diagnoses than any other military base, and Fort Jackson, S.C.
About 2,000 recruits will be tested at each base this year. Testing will be done only on a volunteer basis, said Cmdr. Kevin Russell, head of the Navy’s respiratory disease laboratory.
If the tests are successful, a vaccine could be ready for all boot camps in late 2008 or 2009.
Adenovirus afflicts thousands of military recruits each year, causing flulike symptoms such as fever, sore throat, coughing, general tiredness and body aches, and typically costs a recruit about one week of training; about 10 percent of recruits exposed to the virus develop pneumonia and miss an additional week of training. The virus kills one or two recruits every year, Russell added.
From 1999 to 2004, a Defense Department study found, about 110,000 cases of febrile respiratory illnesses were diagnosed at eight bases where recruits are trained: Great Lakes; Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island, S.C. and San Diego; Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Coast Guard Station Cape May, N.J.; Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Jackson. Of those, the majority — more than 73,000 cases — were one of two strains of adenovirus.
The vaccination — two pills taken within days after a recruit shows up for training — was first given in 1971, after it proved the most effective of several vaccines tested during the 1960s. It cut adenovirus infections by more than 80 percent.
But when the vaccine’s only manufacturer stopped producing it in 1995, the military began rationing it, vaccinating only recruits who went to basic training during winter months, when more severe outbreaks tended to occur.
The last batch was used in 1999. Since then, no military recruit has been vaccinated, and infection rates have approached pre-vaccination levels.
“The manufacturer stopped producing it for fiscal reasons,” Russell said, adding that the company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, felt that the Defense Department was not willing to pay a fair price for the vaccine.
“The decision-makers at that time felt that respiratory illness wasn’t that big of a problem,” Russell said. “The general view was that we had control of respiratory illness, but that was because of the vaccine.
“It has cost a lot more to bring it back because of the lack of foresight.”
After Defense Department officials decided they needed to restart the vaccination program, a request for bids was put out.
Duramed Pharmaceuticals was chosen to provide the vaccine, and the company has built a manufacturing plant in Forest, Va., where the vaccines could be made.
Defense department planners saw no need to develop a new vaccine.
“We knew that the [old] vaccine worked, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals was willing to transfer vaccines and technology,” Russell said.
But federal government regulations required that the vaccine go through another round of tests because it was to be produced by a different company.
Army Col. Arthur Brown, program manager for the Adenovirus Vaccination Restoration Project, said Pentagon officials expect to pay about $75 million to get the vaccine licensed. The cost for providing an estimated 270,000 vaccinations per year will be negotiated with the new manufacturer after the vaccine is approved, he said.
Adenovirus was first observed in military settings during an outbreak of respiratory illness among Army recruits at Fort Leonard Wood during the winter of 1952-1953, although similar outbreaks of respiratory sickness have been experienced for more than a century, Russell said.
The virus passes quickly among recruits assembled from different parts of the country and kept in confined barracks in a high-stress environment.
Russell said the virus is seldom seen in other high-stress military training environments because people can get it only once before developing immunity. Immunity rates among recruits reporting to basic training average around 30 percent, he said. By the time recruits complete basic training, immunity rates are nearly 100 percent.
The virus is not seen as often in high-stress, crowded civilian areas because those populations tend to be more stable, Russell said.
“Colleges, prisons, a lot of places that you think would be similar don’t have the same problem with the virus,” he said, adding that the constant turnover of recruits during basic training brings a constant source of people who have never been exposed to the virus.
“It’s like throwing timber on the fire every week,” he said. “Recruit camps are very unique, in that every week they have individuals joining that haven’t been exposed to the infection.”
Ellie