Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development recently reported on the successful trial of a vaccination for staphylococcus infection — a relatively common, and potentially deadly disease usually contracted in the hospital environment.
Staph infection fools the body into not realizing that it is under attack. The surface of the bacteria is covered with two sugar molecules which most human immune systems fail to recognize as a threat.
Experimenting in mice, the researchers took those two sugar molecules and added a third protein that they knew the immune system would recognize as a threat. Researchers proved that, at least in mice, that approach would work.
They then conducted trials of the vaccine on 1,900 patients receiving dialysis. Such patients typically have weakened immune systems and are especially vulnerable to staph infection. In the first 40 weeks of the study, those receiving the vaccination had 57 percent fewer staph infections compared to a control group that did not receive the vaccination.
Longer term the success rate was lower, but still represented a statistically significant increase in protection against staph infection compared to the control group.
The upshot of that is that the vaccination is likely to work even better with people who do not have compromised immune systems. As the BC quoted Robert Naso, who works with a company working on developing the vaccine,
Kidney disease patients on dialysis are among the least like to respond to a vaccine because their immune system are generally compromised. Based upon previous clinical studies in normal, healthy volunteers, we believe that other patient populations at risk for rStaph infections will respond to the vaccine with even higher levels of antibodies than was achievable in kidney disease patients.
An excellent example of the sort of discoveries and advances that animal research makes possible.
Source:
Promising results for ‘superbug’ vaccine. The BC, February 14, 2002.