Days after the U.S. government announced upcoming trials for an H1N1 flu vaccine, Saint Louis University has been inundated with phone calls and e-mails from people volunteering for the study.
Concern about the H1N1 virus grew after it spread quickly around the globe earlier this year.

Concern about the H1N1 virus grew after it spread quickly around the globe earlier this year.

The university’s Center for Vaccine Development has received more than 500 responses from potential volunteers since Wednesday, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced human trials for a swine flu vaccine would begin in early August.

“This response has been exceptionally strong,” Nancy Solomon, a spokeswoman for the university’s medical center, told CNN Radio. “We haven’t had that strong of a response to our call for volunteers since we conducted our small pox vaccine research after September 11.”

Thousands of Americans are currently being recruited for swine flu vaccine testing at several research centers across the country, including Saint Louis University’s Center for Vaccine Development.

“The federal government comes to us when they need a quick response to test the safety and efficacy of vaccines,” Solomon said.

Other trial sites include the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore; Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas; Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, Washington; The University of Iowa in Iowa City; and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

They will be joined by Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri; Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina; and IPS Research in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Most of the human trials are being funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Source/Full Story:: CNN.com
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