Dr. Pittman was active with SEATO and traveled to the cholera research laboratory in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). For five years she was the SEATO Cholera Research Project director at the NIH. Pittman helped design the laboratory, the equipment, and the research that would take place at SEATO. With Pittman leading the team their findings demonstrated that the effectiveness of a cholera vaccination directly relates to its potency assay. This research project also verified the importance of IV restorative fluids in treatment procedures for victims of cholera. Today SEATO has been replaced by the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.
The 1980s and 1990s brought increased research and understanding of the complexity of the cholera bacteria, leading to many more vaccines around the world. Trials around the world expanded knowledge on the theory of herd immunity or herd protection. Vaxchora, approved by the FDA in 2016 and the vaccine currently in use, is a single-dose vaccine taken before traveling to at-risk areas.
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Interior of a Philippine government laboratory where officials are checking an initial shipment of 200,000 doses of cholera vaccine. There was an epidemic of cholera in Thailand in May 1958 and millions of doses of vaccines, along with technical advisors, and other medical equipment were airlifted to Thailand.
