<i>Time</i> Magazine Names Bird Flu Vaccine a 'Top 10 Medical Breakthrough'
Coming in at number three, Time magazine recently cited the approval of a bird flu vaccine earlier this year as one of its "Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs" in 2007.
Testing of the vaccine was done by doctors and nurses at the University of Rochester Medical Center and led to it becoming the first vaccine ever approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent bird flu. More than 750 people in the Rochester area have taken part in studies of bird flu vaccines at the University.
John Treanor, M.D., professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology, along with the university's Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit and with the help of scientists around the nation, showed that large doses of the vaccine are safe and effective at protecting people against bird flu.
The vaccine, made by Sanofi Pasteur Inc., has been purchased by the federal government and is being stockpiled for distribution by public health officials if needed.
"We feel very honored to have been able to contribute to this important effort, and we are especially grateful to our volunteer study subjects, without whom none of this research would have been possible," said Treanor in an official news release. "Because of the willing participation of Rochesterians, we have something we can really use to fight off a bird flu pandemic, if it ever occurs."
The vaccine was preceded in Time's list by the discovery that circumcision may prevent HIV (number one), and the FDA's approval of the first molecular test to detect metastatic breast cancer (number two). To access all of Time magazine's "50 Top 10 Lists of 2007," visit www.time.com.