Experimental SARS Vaccine Trial Approved - China

Main Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 20 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Chinese doctors have been granted permission to inject an experimental SARS vaccine into volunteers. Experts say that this procedure (first time this has ever been done) is risky.

The vaccine trial (in Phase One) would test the safety of the vaccine in humans - the state media announced.

'The vaccine was found safe in experiments on animals, including the rhesus monkey,' Zheng Youyu, director of the State Food and Drug Administration said.

According to the Chinese State Television, there are about thirty volunteers (for this trial). They said that it would be a while before the vaccine could be ready for widespread use.

For China, developing a vaccine is a matter of national pride. Scientists in many countries are currently working on vaccines. It seems that China is taking the lead in this field (it is also taking the biggest risk by testing this new vaccine).

They have developed a 'killed-virus' vaccine. This entails cultivating enormous quantities of live SARS (viruses), inactivating them and then injecting them into the body. As the viruses are dead they cannot harm the patient, but they could trigger the body's immune system to respond (and protect them).

Experts say that the main risk is knowing whether the virus has really been properly killed. There is also the risk of animal pathogens passing accidentally to humans as part of the vaccine (the virus is grown in animal cell-cultures).

There is also another risk. Sometimes provoking (triggering) an immune response can cause the body to over-react. If SARS is a similar type disease to Dengue Fever the patient would be better off with no immunity. If you catch a mild case of Dengue Fever and then catch it again (another strain) at a later date, you are at greater risk of developing hemorrhagic fever.

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