Julius Youngner, Sc.D., distinguished service professor and Patricia Whitaker-Dowling, Ph.D., associate professor, both in the department of molecular genetics and biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, have developed the live, attenuated virus used in the first equine intranasal influenza vaccine.
Scientific literature reports tests of a human vaccine based on the same technology.
These human studies have been underway for approximately 10 years at institutions outside of the University of Pittsburgh and a human intranasal flu vaccine may be available in the near future. Dr. Youngner's work spans nearly five decades, and his achievements include working with the late Jonas Salk, M.D., at the University of Pittsburgh in the development of the first vaccine against poliomyelitis in the 1950s. The Pittsburgh researchers also worked in collaboration with investigators from the Heska Corporation of Fort Collins, CO, which will be manufacturing and marketing this new product, Flu Avert I.N. vaccine, to equine veterinarians. Previous vaccines were killed virus injectable vaccines, which have been shown to leave horses vulnerable to equine influenza, even when horses are vaccinated up to six times a year. The equine influenza vaccines currently on the market simply do not afford the degree of protection needed by horse owners today.