Vaccination with Toxin to Prevent Travelers’ Diarrhea?

Moderate and severe travelers’ diarrhea might be preventable through pretravel use of skin patches that contain heat-labile toxins from enterotoxigenic E. coli.

Heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) is found in about two thirds of cases of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) diarrhea worldwide. Could LT be used to generate antitoxin immunity and prevent travelers’ diarrhea? In an industry-supported, phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of administering LT via skin patch to healthy U.S. adults traveling to Mexico or Guatemala.

Before traveling, 59 individuals received two patches containing LT, and 111 received placebo patches; all patches were to be worn for 6 hours. While traveling, the individuals kept diary cards and had weekly follow-up appointments at local clinics, where they provided blood samples and, if diarrhea occurred, st…

Reviewing Author

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine