Oral cholera vaccine protects against endemic disease, real life trial shows

An oral cholera vaccine given as part of routine healthcare protects against severe cholera in children and adults in urban Bangladesh, where the disease is endemic, a real life trial of the vaccine has shown.1

The open label study, reported in the Lancet and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, included almost 270 000 people aged 1 and over living in the urban slums of Mirpur in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Researchers randomly assigned 90 geographical clusters of people to three groups: vaccination with a killed whole cell oral cholera vaccine (Shanchol); vaccination and behaviour change promoting handwashing …