Health officials are concerned about drug resistance of the bacteria that causes gonorrhea
A sexually transmitted infection (STI), gonorrhea has a high incidence rate among Brazilians. According to the Ministry of Health, 500,000 new infections per year. caused by bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeaealso called gonococcus, tRecent studies, released this Tuesday, 12, indicate that a measure to combat the disease is the vaccine against another disease: meningitis..
Like other bacteria, the cause of gonorrhea has shown resistance against drug treatments, which worries health authorities, as cases of the disease have increased worldwide. Another downside is the lack of a vaccine for gonorrhea.
HOW DOES THE MENINGITIS VACCINE HELP PREVENT GONORRHEA?
Previous studies already showed that there was a possibility of the meningitis vaccine to fight the sexually transmitted infection. “Meningitis and gonorrhea are caused by bacteria of the same genus and share a significant part of the genetic code, a possible explanation for the cross-protection detected by scientists”says the Brazilian Society of Microbiology (SBM).
In one of the studies published in the scientific journal The Lancet, researchers vaccinated 4,032 volunteers with one dose of the meningitis immunizer 4CMenB and 3,596 people with two doses. It was then highlighted that the two stages represented a 40% protection against gonorrhea, while only one vaccination stage presented 26% protection.
“Our findings suggest that meningitis vaccines that are only moderately effective in protecting against gonorrhea can have a major impact on preventing and controlling the disease.”said the study coordinator from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Winston Abarain a statement.
Another study, also published in The Lancetfound that one strategy would be to vaccinate men who have sex with men, thus preventing around 110,000 infections.
“With a specific gonorrhea vaccine likely to take years to develop, a key question for policymakers is whether the 4CMenB meningitis vaccine should be used against gonorrhea infection. Our analysis suggests that giving the vaccine to those most at risk of infection is the most cost-effective way to prevent large numbers of cases.”said the professor at Imperial College London, Peter Whitein a statement.
Source: Recreio
