Md. Event Marks Army Progress Against Cold Virus

FORT DETRICK, Md. (AP) -- Military medical experts at Fort Detrick are marking progress against an enemy most of us have encountered: the common cold.

On Monday, Assistant Defense Secretary Jonathan Woodson will join Army medical researchers in celebrating the licensing and fielding of a vaccine against adenovirus types 4 and 7.

The virus can cause respiratory illness and sore throats, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia, fever and nausea.

The Army says every basic trainee of all five military services now gets the vaccine due to the military's efforts.

Officials say adenovirus vaccine supplies were exhausted by 1999 after the previous manufacturer stopped production. The Defense Department then reacquired the vaccine for use in recruits.

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