The June 8 issue of The Lancet has a great many articles on health in China, including this commentary: EV71 vaccine: protection from a previously neglected disease. Excerpt:
The eagerly awaited results of a phase 3 trial of an inactivated enterovirus 71 (EV71) vaccine are reported by Feng-Cai Zhu and colleagues in The Lancet. EV71 is an important cause of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), but is also associated with more severe diseases in young children (aged <5 years), including aseptic meningitis and encephalitis.
This multicentre randomised controlled trial done in China is a notable advance in protection against EV71. It included more than 10 000 participants (aged 6—35 months), with a vaccine efficacy of 90·0% (95% CI 67·1—96·9) for EV71-associated HFMD and 80·4% (58·2—90·8) for EV71-associated disease (including herpangina, neurological complications, and non-specific illnesses caused by EV71). The vaccine had a satisfactory safety profile and the results are similar to those for inactivated poliovirus vaccine.
