Immunogenicity and safety of Vi capsular polysaccharide typhoid vaccine in healthy persons in Korea.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of Salmonella Typhi Vi capsular polysaccharide vaccine (Vi vaccine) in Korea. The immunogenicity of a single dose of Vi vaccine was evaluated in 157 subjects (75 children and 82 adults) before and at 1, 6, and 12 months after vaccination. Immunogenicity was measured with a passive hemagglutination assay (PHA), quantified as geometric mean titers (GMTs) and seroconversion rates. The safety of the vaccine was investigated by determining adverse reactions occurring within 4 h, 3 days, and 1 month after injection. The seroconversion rate for children and adults 1 month after vaccination was 96.92% and 89.02%, respectively. In the case of children, the GMTs of Vi antibodies before vaccination were 5.87 +/- 1.34 and 142.59 +/- 2.39 at one month after vaccination. For adults, the GMTs before and one month after vaccination were 5.58 +/- 1.28 and 58.56 +/- 3.67, respectively. Vi antibodies persisted for as long as 6 and 12 months after vaccination. All adverse reactions in adults and children were minor and did not require treatment. The Vi CPS vaccine was safe and immunogenic in adults and children older than 5 years.

Clinical and in vitro evaluation of cidofovir for treatment of adenovirus infection in pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients.

Post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) adenovirus infections were identified in 31 of 204 consecutive pediatric HSCT patients, 18 of whom had severe manifestations of infection. Cidofovir treatment led to clinical improvement in 8 of 10 patients with severe infection and to virologic clearance in 9 patients. In vitro susceptibility to cidofovir was demonstrated in 12 clinical adenovirus isolates. Cidofovir is a promising treatment option for this population.

Susceptibility of herpes simplex virus isolates to nucleoside analogues and the proportion of nucleoside-resistant variants after repeated topical application of penciclovir to recurrent herpes labialis.

Subjects received topical penciclovir for 4 days during successive episodes of recurrent herpes labialis. Isolation of herpes simplex virus (HSV) was attempted from lesions obtained before initiation of treatment and on each day of therapy. Isolates remained sensitive to penciclovir when tested by a plaque reduction assay, and there was no significant change in sensitivity during any treatment course or between successive treatments. The proportion of nucleoside-resistant variants present within a subset of these isolates was further investigated using a more-sensitive plating efficiency assay. Although the proportion of antiviral-resistant HSV variants increased on successive days, it invariably remained a minor subpopulation. Moreover, isolates from successive episodes obtained before treatment showed no change in the proportion of resistant HSV variants. We conclude that antiviral-resistant variants, which are readily detected in HSV isolates from peripheral lesions, do not accumulate in the sensory ganglia of immunocompetent patients receiving multiple courses of nucleoside analogues.