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The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) has produced a tetravalent live-attenuated dengue vaccine that has been well tolerated and immunogenic in U.S. adults and Thai children. As infants are considered by many as an important age group for vaccination in dengue-endemic countries, we evaluated the vaccine in Thai flavivirus-na ve infants who are at risk for dengue., See also ADM002075., The original document contains color images. Presented at the Army Science Conference (25th) held in Orlando, FL on 27-30 November 2006.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes hepatitis E, a public health problem in many developing countries. Several outbreaks of hepatitis E have been reported in military environments. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of a HEV recombinant protein (rHEV) vaccine in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. In Nepal, we studied 2,000 healthy adults susceptible to HEV who were randomized to receive 3 doses of either the rHEV vaccine (1,000) or placebo (1,000) at months 0, 1 and 6. Active and hospital surveillance were used to identify acute hepatitis and adverse events. The primary endpoint was hepatitis E occurring after 3 vaccine doses., See also ADM002075. Presented at the Army Science Conference (25th) held in Orlando, FL on 27-30 November 2006.

We evaluated the molestus form of Culex pipiens (L.) (hereafter referred to as "molestus") captured near Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for their ability to transmit Japanese encephalitis (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, JEV) and West Nile (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, WNV) viruses under laboratory conditions. These molestus were highly competent laboratory vectors of WNV, with infection and dissemination rates of 96 and 81%, respectively. Approximately 75% of female molestus that fed after development of a disseminated infection transmitted virus by bite. Therefore, approximately 60% of those molestus taking a second bloodmeal between 16 and 25 d after an infectious bloodmeal would be expected to transmit WNV by bite. In contrast, these molestus were less efficient vectors of JEV, with infection and dissemination rates of 51 and 25%, respectively. In addition, only 33% of individuals with a disseminated infection transmitted JEV by bite, indicating a significant salivary gland barrier. Therefore, only approximately 8% of orally exposed individuals would be expected to transmit JEV by bite if they took a second bloodmeal 16-25 d later. These data indicate that the molestus form of Cx. p. pipiens should be considered a potentially important vector of WNV in Uzbekistan and may become involved in the transmission of JEV, should this virus be introduced into Uzbekistan., Pub. in J. Med. Entomol., v43 n2 p296-300, 2006.