THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010442 SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER LENGTH: 64 lines
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new and safer vaccine against whooping cough that causes fewer side effects than the shot that's been used for more than 50 years.
An FDA committee had recommended approval in July.
The new vaccine, called Tripedia, should be available in local pediatrician offices almost immediately, said Dr. Larry Pickering, director of the Center for Pediatric Research, a joint program of Eastern Virginia Medical School and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
The drug has already been approved for children 15 months and older. The FDA's action Wednesday clears it for use at 2, 4 and 6 months of age - the three doses given when babies are most vulnerable to the vaccine's side effects.
Infants' reactions to the current vaccine typically are minor, but in extremely rare cases the vaccine has caused serious complications, including seizures and brain damage. As a result, some worried parents avoid or delay bringing their children in for a vaccination.
Tripedia, manufactured by Connaught Laboratories, causes fewer of the minor side effects.
It's too early to know if it will cause fewer of the severe reactions - they are so unusual that it would take tens of thousands of injections to detect.
Right now, parents who want to use the vaccine will have to subject their infants to an extra shot.
The current vaccine for whooping cough is usually combined with the meningitis vaccine into one injection.
It may be weeks or even months before a combined shot with the new vaccine is available, Pickering said.
Still, the pain of an extra shot and a few more tears may be worth it. The new vaccine causes so few reactions that parents who participated in clinical trials of it at the research center thought their children had been given a placebo.
Worldwide, whooping cough attacks 50 million children annually, killing about 350,000.
In the United States, mandatory vaccination in most states limited the number of cases to about 4,000 each year. Eight deaths were reported in 1994, although the government estimates 10 times as many Americans may actually get sick but go uncounted.
In July, five Virginia Beach children contracted whooping cough. That compares to five children for all of 1995, and six for 1994.
Whooping cough, which is highly contagious, causes severe coughing, difficulty in breathing, vomiting and a rapid inhaling of air that can cause the ``whooping'' sound that gives the disease its name.
Adults can contract the disease, but it occurs most often and is most serious in infants and young children, for whom it may lead to choking, pneumonia or fatal seizures.
The current vaccine works by introducing a dead version of the pertussis bacteria into the body. That triggers the body's production of antibodies against the disease, giving the vaccinated person immunity without actually contracting the disease.
The new vaccine uses only a portion of the pertussis bacterium instead of the whole thing. That makes it safer but just as effective, Pickering said. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: FDA WHOOPING COUGH VACCINATIONS by CNB