NicVax

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Nabi Pharmaceuticals said March 8 that it closed an option and license agreement for the smoking vaccine candidate NicVAx with GlaxoSmithKline, the Associated Press reported.

HSV-2

Approximately 1 in 6 Americans (16.2 percent) between the ages of 14 and 49 is infected with herpes simplex virus type 2, according to a national health survey released March 9 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Novavax Inc. announced March 8 that more than 3,500 volunteers ages 18 to 64 in Mexico have been enrolled in Stage B of its 2009 H1N1 virus-like-particle pandemic influenza vaccine study.

With spring break coming up and large numbers of students expected to travel both domestically and internationally, getting vaccinated against 2009 H1N1 influenza is especially important.

LONDON — An investigation is under way after a newborn baby was given 10 times the normal dose of a tuberculosis vaccine at a hospital in North Lincolnshire, England.

LEIDEN, Netherlands — Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell announced March 8 that Jerald C. Sadoff was appointed chief medical officer will be a member of its management committee.

Vitamin D

LONDON — Vitamin D is vital in activating human defenses and low levels suffered by around half the world's population may mean their immune systems' killer T cells are poor at fighting infection, scientists said March 7.

Meningitis

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The seven bacterial meningitis cases at Ohio University the past two years have been declared an outbreak by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Columbus Dispatch reported March 7.

Hepatits B

About one in five babies born to mothers with hepatitis B aren't getting treatments that have been shown to prevent the infection in newborns, a study whose findings were released online March 8 in advance of the April print issue of Pediatrics.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced March 8 that it would decide whether a federal law protects vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits in state court seeking damages for alleged design defects.