 
School of Medicine Will Study First Ever Vaccine Against Cytomegalovirus |
N ew, investigational vaccines intended to prevent disease caused by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) are being tested for the first time at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. HCMV infects approximately 50 percent of all Americans by the time they are 40. In people with suppressed immune systems, such as those with AIDS or transplants, the health risks can be serious, including death.
These vaccines are being tested solely at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Currently, there is no licensed vaccine for HCMV.
HCMV causes serious illness in unborn fetuses and in people who have a weakened immune response. In babies infected before birth, HCMV is a leading cause of death, mental retardation, and deafness. Every year in the U.S., 4,000 to 8,000 children are born with serious HCMV disease. In people whose immune systems are weakened by drugs or AIDS, HCMV may cause pneumonia, gastrointestinal disease, hepatitis, blindness, or death.
Saliva, urine, or sexual fluids transmit the virus. Young children, who frequently have no symptoms when infected with HCMV, often pass the virus to their parents. It can also be obtained through blood transfusions, organ transplantation, or passed from pregnant women to their unborn fetus. When otherwise healthy people are infected with HCMV, they usually do not become ill. Some infected people however will develop a mono-like illness characterized by fever, muscle aches, headaches and other symptoms for 2 to 3 weeks.
Researchers are currently seeking volunteers to participate in this investigational vaccine study. Volunteers must be between the ages of 18 and 50 and in good health. Female volunteers must be surgically sterile. Also, volunteers must not live in the same house with a person who has a weakened immune system or with children less than 18 years old. Household contacts must also agree to enroll in the study although they will not receive vaccine.
To learn more about this study, please call the Center for Vaccine Development at Saint Louis University School of Medicine at (314) 577-8649.
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