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June 1, 2006 -- An infectious disease research team
at the University of Virginia Health System has been awarded
a $4.2 million, 5-year grant from the National Institutes
of Health to develop a vaccine against a worldwide killer
— the disease amebiasis. About 50 million people each year
suffer
from invasive amebic infection, and about 40,000 to 100,000
die annually from its effects. The gut-dwelling parasite
Entamoeba histolytica wreaks havoc on digestive systems
of children and adults, causing diarrhea and dysentery.
“There is a substantial burden of infection due to
this protozoan parasite,” said William Petri, chair of
the UVa Division
of Infectious Diseases and International Health. “We are pleased to receive word of this grant
and we’re eager to start working on the vaccine.”
The research team, led by Dr. Petri, will work to produce
a vaccine against Entamoeba histolytica and test the vaccine’s
effectiveness. The target for the vaccine is a protein
called the Gal/GalNAc lectin. This lectin is a target because
it allows the parasite to adhere to gut tissue more easily
and kill healthy cells.
The research team comprises William A. Petri Jr., M.D.,
Ph.D., Eric Houpt, M.D., Shinjiro Hamano, Ph.D., Girija
Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., all from the Division of Infectious
Diseases and International Health, and David Lyerly from
TechLab Inc., which develops and manufactures intestinal
diagnostic products.
A U.Va. Infectious Disease Division prospective study of
preschool children in a slum of Dhaka Bangladesh demonstrated
new E. histolytica infection in 39 percent of children
during a one-year observation period, with 10 percent of
the children having an E. histolytica infection associated
with diarrhea and 3 percent with dysentery. Carefully conducted
serologic studies in Mexico, where amebiasis is common,
demonstrated antibody to E. histolytica in 8.4 percent
of the population. New epidemiologic studies are making
a humanitarian case for creating this product for use in
the developing world where the infection lingers.
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