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Link: Mirror.co.uk
RESEARCHERS claim to have found a possible vaccine to prevent MRSA. Now they are working with a manufacturer to develop the jab, which would be given to patients and staff in hospitals. Around a quarter of the population carry the bug harmlessly in their noses. The team at Sheffield University found it produces more than 100 proteins during human infection. Non-carriers have a potential natural immunity against some of the proteins, which led to the vaccine. Human trials are planned by US firm Biosynexus, which funded the research. Prof Simon Foster, who is working on the vaccine, told the Journal of Infectious Diseases: "MRSA is difficult to treat due to the increase of resistance towards antibiotics used in hospitals. This has led to renewed efforts to develop a vaccine."
Link: Infection Control Today
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals announced today the initiation of the first human clinical study for its vaccine being developed to prevent Staphylococcus aureus type 336 infections in at-risk patients. Patients at the highest risk for S. aureus infections include dialysis patients, patients undergoing certain types of invasive surgery, patients in intensive care or shock-trauma units, patients receiving cancer chemotherapy or other immune suppressive treatments, and patients in long-term care facilities. This is a Phase I study that will evaluate safety and immune response of the vaccine in healthy volunteers.
Much more detail at the link above
Link: Researchers test vaccine to prevent dangerous Staphylococcal infections.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious diseases researchers are launching a trial for a new vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. The vaccine, if proven effective, could help curb the growing threat of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an emerging organism rapidly spreading through close personal contact. The new vaccine, called StaphVAX , is a conjugate vaccine that was developed for patients who are at high risk of S. aureus infections. StaphVAX targets S. aureus types 5 and 8, the cause of approximately 85 percent of all S. aureus infections. "This vaccine appears to be very safe, and has proven so in several other trials, even among study recipients with serious chronic illnesses," said Buddy Creech, M.D., a fellow in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the study's co-investigator. StaphVAX is intended to stimulate a recipient's immune system to produce antibodies to S. aureus that provide active, long-term protection from the bacteria. "Previously, this vaccine has been tested in both healthy and chronically ill patients, has been found to be safe, and has generated a substantial immune response. In addition, this vaccine has been effective in reducing the risk of staph infections in a study of dialysis patients," said Thomas Talbot, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine & Preventive Medicine, associate hospital epidemiologist, and the study's other principal investigator
Link: RTE Business - US drug developer opens in Bray.
Nabi develops and markets products that help the immune system to fight infectious diseases. One of its products is StaphVAX, an immunisation against the bacterial infection MRSA, which affects 10,000 hospital patients a year in Ireland. Click here to find out more! The Bray operation will initially be involved in marketing and sales for the European market. It will employ up to 40 people by the end of 2006. A second stage of development may include the construction a manufacturing facility.
A short introduction from Dave Roberts
This 12 minute introduction will help you grasp the key facts and the key issues surrounding drug resistant staph aureus (mersa, mursa)
