Chlamydia bacteria may be source of trachoma vaccine
Tuesday 11th October 2011
A weakened strain of the Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria could be used as a vaccine against the world's biggest cause of infectious blindness, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health.
Trachoma, which affects an estimated 40 million people around the world, could be counteracted by a dose of the bacteria that has been weakened by removing a small piece of DNA.
A test on six macaque monkeys found that all of them spontaneously recovered from the trachoma infection in less than two weeks, with minimal or no signs of ocular disease.
"This work is an important milestone in the development of a trachoma vaccine," said Anthony S Faudi, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"If this approach demonstrates continued success, the implications could be enormous for the tens of millions of people affected by trachoma."
Meanwhile, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have discovered a cellular pathway that promotes inflammation in diseases like arthritis, which may present new ways to target these diseases in future.
Written by Angela Newbury
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