Krystal Preister of Norfolk knows the importance of protecting a child from harmful diseases early in life, as well as the risk of delivering a baby during RSV virus season.
That’s why the mother and obstetrics nurse at Faith Regional Health Services’ women’s health department didn’t hesitate to join what was known as a “respiratory syncytial virus F vaccine trial” when she learned Midwest Health Partners of Norfolk was participating in the research.
Preister became involved while pregnant with her youngest son, Myles, who was born in January 2016. Preister said she believes she received the vaccine in December 2015 — as compared to a placebo — because her son had no respiratory issues.
“I wanted to take every effort I could to prevent my baby from possibly getting RSV, as well as I wanted to participate in a clinical trial to get a vaccine available for all pregnant moms,” she said. “He was a very healthy baby his first year except for ear infections.”
The Norfolk clinic is serving as one of two sites in Nebraska taking part in the third phase of a new clinical trial that will determine the effectiveness of administering a RSV vaccine to pregnant mothers to prevent babies from contracting the virus.
Dr. Keith Vrbicky, an obstetrics and gynecology physician at Midwest Health Partners, is serving as a primary investigator who conducts the trial there.
Meridian Clinical Research in Omaha approached him to work on the trial. Meridian staff in Norfolk work with trial participants, who receive either a vaccine or placebo.
Read the full news article: http://norfolkdailynews.com/news/norfolk-has-several-connections-to-national-rsv-study/article_f1aa8e90-a3bc-11e7-ab2a-1f734454ed4b.html