U.S. scientists have created an anthrax vaccine-antitoxin combination that could provide rapid treatment and long-term protection in a single injection.

   Scripps Research Institute scientists Anette Schneemann and Marianne Manchester, who led the study, said the immune response generated in rats by the new agent protected against lethal toxin exposure after only one injection and is faster and stronger than any currently available vaccine.

   Concerns about anthrax being used as a bioterror weapon prompted increased efforts to develop better antitoxins and vaccines. The vaccine in current use, developed during the 1950s, is safe and effective but requires multiple injections followed by annual boosters, the researchers said. Current anthrax treatment involves antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin  and doxycycline that attack the bacteria but provide no protection against dangerous toxins secreted by the bacteria.

   In addition to its use against anthrax, Schneemann said the newly developed combination creates a multivalent platform that might also work against other infectious agents.

   The study, which also included Salk Institute Professor John Young, appears in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

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