Dr. Creech, Dr. Edwards, and colleagues are currently enrolling healthy adults (18-49 years old) into a Phase 2 study of a new candidate pertussis vaccine. Interested volunteers may email the study team in order to participate.
The vaccine, currently named BPZE1, is a live, attenuated version of Bordetella pertussis, the cause of whooping cough. Whooping cough can occur in people of all ages, ranging from a prolonged cough illness in teenagers and adults, to potentially fatal pneumonia in infants. The disease is often thought to be the common cold in its early stages until prolonged coughing, sometimes with long coughing spells, occurs.
BPZE1 has been genetically modified so that its main proteins that cause disease have been taken out or changed so much that the bacteria can no longer cause disease. It is then purified and put into a vaccine that can be squirted into the nose as a mist. This has many advantages over a shot in the arm, including (1) lack of pain or arm soreness, (2) ease of giving the vaccine, and (3) providing immunity in both the bloodstream and the initial site of infection, the nose.
More information about the study can be found at the links below.
