Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network (ADVN)

The National Institutes of Health has launched a five-year program of clinical studies related to atopic dermatitis also known as eczema. The Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network (ADVN) is a consortium of academic medical centers that will conduct clinical research studies in an attempt to make smallpox vaccines safer for millions of people with atopic dermatitis.

People who currently have atopic dermatitis (AD) or who have outgrown AD are prone to increased skin infections. These can include such viral infections as herpes, molluscum contagiosum and eczema vaccinatum. Eczema vaccinatum is a severe and potentially fatal skin disease caused by exposure to smallpox vaccine. U.S.health care providers stopped routinely administering the vaccine in 1972 because of near global-eradication of the disease and because the risk of adverse effects from the vaccine was considered greater than the risk of the disease. Now, however, an epidemic of smallpox caused by a bioterrorist act might again make smallpox vaccinations necessary.

People with active AD, or who have outgrown AD, and the people they live with currently do not receive smallpox vaccinations because of the risk of eczema vaccinatum. It is estimated that close to 50% of the U.S.population is not eligible for routine smallpox vaccination. The ADVN will conduct clinical research studies with the goal of making smallpox vaccines safer for millions of people with AD. These studies will also help us understand more about the immune systems of AD patients and may lead to the identification of a subset of AD patients who are predisposed to severe viral infections.

This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under contract No. HHSN266200400029C.