Field trial of oral cholera vaccines in Bangladesh: results of one year of follow-up.

We assessed the protective efficacy (PE) of three doses of B subunit-killed whole cell (BS-WC) and killed whole cell-only (WC) oral cholera vaccines in a randomized, double-blind trial among 62,285 children and women residing in rural Bangladesh. After one complete year of surveillance, 110 cases of cholera were detected in the placebo group, 52 in the WC group (PE, 53%; P less than .0001), and 41 in the BS-WC group (PE, 62%; P less than .0001). Protection was greater for BS-WC recipients than for WC recipients only during the initial eight months of observation. Both vaccines conferred equivalent protection against cholera associated with life-threatening dehydration and against less severe cholera. High-grade, sustained protection was observed in persons vaccinated when older than five years; in younger persons protection was transient. We conclude that BS-WC and WC vaccines confer significant protection against cholera, particularly in persons vaccinated when older than five years.