Vaginal Vaccine Shows Promise in Bladder Infection

[Guest guest]

They bring up the antibiotic resistance yet they still go forward with it.

Amazing! All that and yet it declines a couple months after the last

booster. Really worth the trouble.

Dawn in NC

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http://dailynews./h/nm/20011218/hl/infection_1.html

Tuesday December 18 1:13 PM ET

Vaginal Vaccine Shows Promise in Bladder Infection

By Anne Harding

CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - An experimental vaccine given vaginally may help

prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs), a small study presented here Monday

at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

demonstrates.

The findings provide some hope to the 10% to 15% of women who have recurrent

bladder infections, which are also a problem for some children.

Many of these women must stay on preventive antibiotic treatment for months

or even years, noted study author Dr. Walter Hopkins of the University of

Wisconsin in Madison, who has been researching UTI vaccines for 15 years.

A problem with this long-term antibiotic use is that resistance can develop.

``Some women,'' Hopkins said, ``run down the list of antibiotics that are

available and eventually run out of options.''

Hopkins presented findings on the vaccine--a vaginal suppository containing

10 types of heat-inactivated bacteria that commonly infect the urinary

tract--at a press conference here Monday.

The vaccine works by building immunity within the mucosal tissue, which

lines the vagina and the urinary tract.

While doctors gave the women the vaccine in the study, Hopkins noted, the

goal is for women to administer it themselves. The suppository is inserted

into the vagina, where it melts, distributing the vaccine.

In the new study, 18 women received three weekly doses of the vaccine,

followed by three monthly booster doses. Another 18 received inactive

treatment, or placebo, while a third group of 18 received a combination of

vaccine and placebo.

Among the women given all six doses of the vaccine, half stayed UTI-free for

6 months after the start of the study, compared with 20% of those on

placebo.

The benefits of the vaccine began to decline about 2 months after women had

their last dose, Hopkins said, so subsequent studies will look at extending

the monthly boosters for a longer period.

Longer, multi-site research is planned, and the Cincinnati-based company

Protein Express has received a license from the Food and Drug Administration

(news - web sites) to manufacture the vaccine for these trials.

Hopkins told Reuters Health that the vaginal suppository vaccine could reach

the market in 3 to 5 years.