Adolescent Vaccination Against Herpes By The End Of The Decade?

In a step considered to signal the imminent prospect of adolescent vaccines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has appointed a sub-committee on adolescent immunization. The group will consider how to integrate new vaccines into the program and whether they should be recommended for all youngsters.

By the end of this decade, several new vaccines may be available for older children and teens, including one to protect against genital herpes. This is expected to herald significant changes in the way doctors and patients interact and late-childhood and early-teen visits to the doctor may also become routine.

Fifteen years ago, HSV-2 infection among 20-year-olds was relatively unusual. Today, the infection is common not only in that age group but throughout the high school populations as well, with the fastest increases occurring among adolescents aged 12 to 19. In the U.S., more than 25% of women over the age of 12 have genital herpes, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is enrolling more than 7,500 women in a study to test a herpes vaccine being developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

Other vaccine candidates for this age group are a booster shot for whooping cough, an improved meningococcal vaccine and a vaccine for human papillomavirus.

Source: USA Today, 29th July 2003

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