NIAID launches 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine trial in preg...(virus it is impossible to become infecte...),Health

The design of this trial in pregnant women is patterned after clinical trials that opened in August through NIAID's VTEU network. Those trials are testing the same vaccine in various groups of healthy individuals, including adults, the elderly and children. The candidate vaccine is also being tested in pregnant women because they represent a population who public health officials have recommended to receive a licensed 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine when it becomes available this fall.

The trial is taking place at the following six medical centers: Baylor College of Medicine VTEU in Houston; Group Health Cooperative Center for Health Studies VTEU in Seattle; Saint Louis University VTEU; Vanderbilt University VTEU in Nashville; Duke University in Durham, N.C.; and Scott and White Memorial Hospital and Clinic in Temple, Tex.

In a paper published Aug. 8 in The Lancet, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that six of 45 people (13 percent) who died from 2009 H1N1 influenza between mid-April and mid-June were pregnant women. In addition, during the first month of the H1N1 outbreak, the estimated rate of hospitalization for H1N1 infection in pregnant women was approximately four times higher than it was in the general population. U.S. public health officials, following the recommendation of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, have designated pregnant women among the top priority groups to receive the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine when it becomes available.

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