Prescription Pharmacy Rx News

Anthrax Vaccine Shows Promise in Monkeys

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Monkeys vaccinated with an anthrax capsule vaccine were protected against lethal anthrax infection, a recent study has found.

The anthrax capsule is a naturally occurring component of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax.

This is the earliest successful take of a non-toxin vaccine to protect monkeys from anthrax, which is regarded as one of the most humorless bioterrorism threats, according to the U.S. Army scientists who conducted the study.

Bacillus anthracis makes three main components that enable it to cause harm -- lethal toxin, edema toxin as well as the capsule. During anthrax infection, the capsule surrounds the bacterium as well as defends it from destruction by the body's pale blood cells.

In this study, the researchers found that the anthrax capsule vaccine induced anti-capsule antibody responses in both rabbits as well as monkeys. Vaccinated rabbits were not protected against anthrax spores, but many of the vaccinated monkeys did survive.

The study appears in the Jan. 20 print issue of the journal Vaccine.

Current human vaccines for anthrax are based on the protective antigen component of the anthrax toxins, but there are concerns about relying on a single antigen as well as about anthrax strains that may be vaccine resistant, said senior author Arthur Friedlander of the U.S. Army Health examination Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).

"This is the earliest non-toxin anthrax vaccine shown to be protective in monkeys. In addition, this recent capsule vaccine is expected to work against likely vaccine-resistant strains of anthrax, as well as in recipients whose immune systems may not respond to protective antigen alone," Friedlander said in a USAMRIID news release.

While the findings of the recent study are promising, scientists note that research involving animals often fails to make similar results in humans.

-- Robert Preidt

Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Related Medications and Drug Categories:

Lasix More Cholesterol and Blood Pressure meds