Sep 02, 2008 - 04:07:06 CDT
Two doctors from India who took part in a pediatric vaccination study in India conducted by Bismarck's Odyssey Research are visiting Bismarck.Odyssey, established in Bismarck in 1999, conducts clinical trials of medications, testing them before the FDA approves them, said June Remmich, human resources and advertising director for Odyssey.
Kush Dhody and Rahul Tyagi, two of the seven doctors from India who participated in the vaccination program in India's Bihar province, are spending several days in Bismarck before going to St. Paul, Minn., to work with the Odyssey Medical Research Department, Remmich said.
The 18-month India study offered vaccinations to children suffering from visceral leishmaniasis, or "black fever," a disease spread by sand flies, she said.
People in Bihar and elsewhere build huts using animal dung for plaster, a perfect breeding ground for the sand flies that spread black fever, she said. So small that they can slip through mosquito netting, the flies go from person to person, she said. Those infected with the virus often develop high fevers and pneumonia.
Odyssey, along with the Institute of One World Health, has dedicated its staff in India to help eradicate black fever, a common infectious disease with a 94 percent mortality rate, Remmich said.
Remmich herself spent parts of last June and October in India with the project after the medication was approved in India. The medication, about 20 years old, is also manufactured in India, she said.
The Institute for One World Health, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company, received $10 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others, she said. Its mission is to provide medications for patients in developing countries, she said. Odyssey did not make a profit on the project, she said, only covering its costs.
The 18-month immunization study in India is complete, she said; 10 people were employed there and 502 immunizations were given to children with black fever, saving their lives.
"We Americans can really reach out and make a big difference,"she said.
For more information, visit www.oneworldhealth.org/media/audio_video.php.
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