There are about 4 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Saint Kitts and Nevis. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
Many of the Caribbean island nations have no data on iodine status in their populations. Iodine deficiency in children can reduce IQ but can be easily corrected through a program of salt iodization. The study will be located at 11 islands of the Caribbean region. At each of the 11 study sites, we will measure the iodine status in school-age children by collecting morning spot urine samples for measurement of urinary iodine concentration (UIC). We will also measure height and weight in all children. We will collect a repeat, next-day spot urine sample in 1/3rd of children to adjust for intra-individual variation in spot UIC and calculate the distribution of population intake.
People who are at frequent or continuous risk of exposure to rabies virus should be vaccinated against the disease (pre-exposure prophylaxis). This includes people who work with rabies virus in research or diagnostic laboratories or vaccine production facilities, veterinarians, staff, animal-control and wildlife workers in areas where rabies is endemic. Veterinary students in clinical placements and externships are included in this category. Currently, DVM students at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM) are vaccinated against rabies in their 7th semester (final pre-clinical semester). Vaccinations are done by RUSVM Health Services using Rabivax-S, produced by the Serum Institute of India (study co-sponsors). Previously-unvaccinated students receive three injections of vaccine, on day 0, 7 and 21-28. The aim of the study is to generate additional data on safety and tolerability of Rabivax-S administered as pre-exposure prophylaxis to this population.
Vaccines work by stimulating the body to produce a high-quality, rapid and specific immune response upon exposure to infection by a particular disease-causing microorganism - the microorganism targeted by the vaccine. Evidence is emerging that some vaccines may have additional 'non-specific effects' (NSEs); that is, effects on the immune system beyond the direct protection against the diseases for which the vaccines were developed. It has been proposed that rabies vaccine has protective NSEs in people and animals, with receipt of rabies vaccine in children associated with a reduced risk of meningitis and cerebral malaria in one study, and a history of rabies vaccination in free-roaming dogs associated with increased survival rates in another study. Studies in mice have shown that prior rabies vaccination protects against bacterial sepsis. The biological mechanism of action of any such NSE of rabies vaccine is unknown. Other vaccines with reported protective NSEs (e.g. bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine against tuberculosis, a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis) have been show to reprogram the immune system, leading to enhanced protection against infection with disease-causing microorganisms unrelated to M. tuberculosis. In this study, we will test the hypothesis that rabies vaccine has non-specific protective effects against common infectious disease (CID) syndromes (upper respiratory illness, diarrhea and fever) in a population of veterinary students. We will randomly assign previously-unvaccinated students who volunteer for the study to receive a primary course of three injections of rabies vaccine (experimental group) or an identical course of three injections of sterile water (control group). Participants will not know to which group they have been assigned. We will ask all participants to report episodes of illness through an online survey each week for 26 weeks, and will also record all clinically- and laboratory-confirmed cases of illness with CID syndromes. We hypothesize that rates of self-reported new episodes of CID illness over 26 weeks will be at least 25% lower in the experimental group, relative to the control group.
A multi-arm trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of using gaseous nitric oxide to treat moderate to severe tinea pedis.