A vaccine has been shown for the first time to protect against life-threatening staph infections, a major hazard among hospital patients, researchers said today.
The genetically engineered vaccine was tested first in kidney dialysis patients, and it cut their risk of staph blood poisoning in half for nearly a year.
“I am quite encouraged by this. It could be a major breakthrough in this area,” said Dr. Steve Black of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Oakland, Calif.
Black presented the results in a last-minute addition to the program of the annual infectious disease meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
The vaccine, called StaphVAX, was created at the National Institutes of Health and is being developed by Nabi Corp. of Boca Raton, Fla., which financed the latest study.
Staphylococcus aureus is a common and ordinarily harmless inhabitant of the human nasal tract. It can live for days outside the body on almost any surface and spreads widely in hospitals, where it can cause serious infections among those who are already sick, especially if they have weak immune defenses.
Infection Sometimes Fatal
Staph can be deadly if it invades the bloodstream. It can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis, liver abscesses and other problems.
Staph infections are relatively common among people who use needles frequently, such as diabetics and dialysis patients, elderly people in nursing homes and those who are hospitalized for surgery and a variety of other conditions.
Doctors conducted the first large test of StaphVAX in dialysis patients because typically between 1 percent and 3 percent of them get bloodstream staph infections each year.
Robert B. Naso, Nabi’s research director, said the company will seek approval soon from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce and sell the vaccine.
The study enrolled 1,804 patients at 90 dialysis centers in California. Half got the vaccine, while the rest took dummy shots.
The vaccine appeared to quickly lower the risk of staph. After 10 months, there were 11 serious infections among those getting the vaccine, compared with 26 in the unprotected group, a 57 percent reduction.
The vaccine triggers the body to make fresh antibodies against staph. After one year, the patients’ antibody levels dropped, and their protection against staph began to fade.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of hospital infections at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that staph is an especially difficult problem for dialysis patients.
A Growing Immunity to Antibiotics
“If you can get this much protection in them, it might work even better in other patients,” she said.
Staph infections are of particular concern because the bacteria is growing immune to the antibiotics commonly used to treat it. Half of all staph that circulates in hospitals is resistant to methicillin, the standard drug. Now it is developing resistance to vancomycin, the main backup drug.
Black said the new vaccine could be given to build up staph resistance in surgery patients, who are prone to the infection. It might also be used in nursing homes, among diabetes patients and in people who are hospitalized for a variety of problems.
The Latest on: Staph Infections
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Staph Infections” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Staph Infections
- ESCMID 2024: Emerging bacterial infections in neonates and childrenon May 8, 2024 at 11:58 am
Coinfections can complicate disease management and hence continued surveillance and targeted intervention strategies are needed.
- Tailored vaccine could one day treat eczema in childrenon May 8, 2024 at 9:00 am
More information: Julianne Clowry et al, Distinct T cell signatures are associated with Staphylococcus aureus skin infection in pediatric atopic dermatitis, JCI Insight (2024). DOI: ...
- Struggling With Recurring MRSA? Here Are Some Treatment Optionson May 7, 2024 at 10:34 am
A viewer says they keep getting skin infections with MRSA; they want to know what it is and how it can be prevented. Doctor Lacy Anderson has the answer.
- Novel Antibiotics for the Treatment of Staphylococcus aureuson May 5, 2024 at 5:00 pm
cSSSI: Complicated skin and skin-structure infection; ESBL: Extended spectrum β lactamase; MRSA: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; MSSA: Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.
- Teacher dies after spending nearly 2 years battling infection stemming from common coldon May 3, 2024 at 3:38 pm
LEXINGTON, Ky. ( WKYT /Gray News) – A teacher in Kentucky has died after a long battle with an infection that stemmed from a common cold. Emily Presley’s husband confirmed her death to the Lexington ...
- Staphylococcus aureus News and Researchon May 2, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is an extremely common bacterial infection; about 30% of people have colonies of SA living in their nose. In this interview, Dr. Church, the Molecular and Pediatric ...
- Scientists team up to expand vaccine science's role in the fight against MRSA and other infectionson April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
In the latest paper, Huang announced several discoveries that will help the development of a carbohydrate-based vaccine for infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and its "superbug" relative ...
- A vaccine to fight antibiotic resistanceon April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Researchers have created a new vaccine candidate to treat staph and MRSA infections. Driven by the overuse of antimicrobials, pathogens are quickly building up resistances to once-successful ...
- Progression From New Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Colonisation to Infectionon April 9, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Clinical MRSA infection developed in 121 of 840 patients (14.4%) within the follow up period. The median time to infection was 22 days from the time of positive ASC (95% CI 14–31). The majority ...
- Evaxion and Undisclosed Collaborator Announce Encouraging Results for EVX-B1 Vaccine Antigens Against Staphylococcus Aureus Infectionon April 2, 2024 at 12:00 am
Evaxion and its collaborator tested Evaxion-designed vaccine antigens against Staphylococcus aureus in a clinically relevant animal model of surgical site infections The vaccine antigens ...
via Bing News