title: IXIARO®updated: overview of clinical trials and developments with the inactivated vaccine against Japanese encephalitis.
abstract: The mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus causes an estimated 50,000 cases in Asia, accounting for at least 10,000 deaths and 15,000 cases of neuropsychiatric sequelae. IXIARO®(Intercell AG, Vienna, Austria), an inactivated, Vero cell-derived vaccine against Japanese encephalitis was introduced in 2009. The vaccine is highly immunogenic, showing significantly higher geometric mean antibody titers compared with previous, mouse brain-derived vaccines. Postmarketing studies have confirmed the excellent safety profile. Studies on children aged 2 months to 18 years have been published. Based on these data, positive opinion from the EMA for vaccination of children has recently been given. Since a safe and effective vaccine against Japanese encephalitis is now available, outdated guidelines and recommendations have to be revised: travelers to rural areas of Asia should generally be recommended vaccination.
authors.affiliation: Berlin Center for Travel and Tropical Medicine, Jägerstrasse 67-69, 10117 Berlin, Germany. jelinek@bctropen.de.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jelinek