An investigational vaccine appears to be well tolerated and effective against the most common strain of norovirus, reducing the main symptoms of the infection, which include vomiting and/or diarrhoea.
David I. Bernstein, MD, MA, professor of paediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati, and lead author of the study said: “The results of our study are promising and our next step is to test this vaccine in a real-world setting.” The randomised, multi-centre study included 98 people who agreed to drink water containing a significant dose of the virus, 50 who received the injected vaccine and 48 who received a placebo injection that did not contain the vaccine. In the vaccine group, 26 (52%) were infected, as were 29 (60%) of those in the non-vaccine group. In people who received the vaccine, 10 (20%) suffered from mild, moderate or severe vomiting and/or diarrhoea versus 20 (42%) in the nonvaccine group, a 52% reduction in symptoms. The findings were presented at IDWeek 2013 – an annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
