BHUBANESWAR: With oral cholera vaccine Sanchol proving its worth in population-based trials, experts have called for expeditious deployment in immunisation programmes in India and other endemic countries to prevent thousands of deaths every year.
Sanchol has been as efficacious in real community situations as results reported from a clinical trial. The vaccine was found to have induced cholera protection against clinically significant cholera in around 70 percent of the people during population tests in an endemic area of Satyabadi block of Puri district in Odisha while in the clinical trials at Kolkata earlier the vaccine provided 65 percent protection over five years, a study has revealed.
Experts including Thomas F Wierzba from the International Vaccine Institute, Seoul and former director Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, Dr SK Kar studied the effectiveness of the vaccine, which was administered among the rural population with the help of Odisha Health Department.
The vaccine was administered to the entire population in the block barring pregnant women and infants below one year and they were monitored for two years. Of the 51,488 eligible persons, 31,552 received single dose while 23,751 were given two doses. The results showed cholera protection in 69 percent of the people who received two doses and around 33 percent among those who got one dose.
"More than two in three persons receiving two vaccine doses were protected from clinically significant cholera. The results have also indicated that one dose reduces severe cholera by nearly one-third", the experts noted.
Cholera is a serious public health problem in Odisha with frequent outbreaks across several endemic districts.
Globally, the communicable disease accounts for an estimated 2.8 million cases and 91,000 deaths every year. With the developing and underdeveloped nations of Asia and Africa the main endemic regions, cholera prevention strategies till now have mainly focused on better hygiene, safe drinking water and sanitation, etc.
The vaccine with its high efficacy will add teeth to the interventions for preventing outbreaks and fatalities in the population. The study supports inclusion of Sanchol in Government immunisation programmes and also suggests making it widely available to health departments in India as well as other cholera endemic countries.
