Meningitis vaccine may be a new weapon against 'super-gonorrhoea'

By Clare Wilson.

A vaccine used to prevent meningococcal disease in young people also cuts the rate of sexually transmitted infections.

Helen Marshall at Women says that the vaccine's effect is relatively modest, but it could still have a useful impact on the rates of the infections.

In up to half of women and a tenth of men it causes no symptoms when it comes to gonorrhoea, also known as the clap. It can cause infertility in women and blindness in babies if left unaddressed.

The STI is becoming more difficult to treat because thebacteria are becoming more resistant to antibiotics. People may get reinfections even after successful treatment. There are strains of super-gonorrhoea that are resistant to nearly all antibiotics.

The vaccine 4C MenB was designed to target the bacterium that causes brain infections and is related to the gonorrhea-causing Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Some of the vaccine's antibodies bind to the gonorrhoeabacteria.

Read more: Antibiotic resistance killed more people than malaria or AIDS in 2019

The 4C MenB vaccine was introduced in Australia in 2019. Marshall's team compared the rates of gonorrhoea in people who didn't get the vaccine. The chances of getting gonorrhoea were reduced by 33 per cent if you received the two required doses of the vaccine.

The vaccine was 40 per cent effective in a study in the US where it was introduced for 16 to 23 year olds.

Even though the effectiveness is moderate, it still would see a reduction in gonorrhoea.

Peter White and his colleagues at Imperial College London found that it would be cost-effective to give the vaccine to men who have sex with men if they were attending a STI clinic. People who test positive for gonorrhoea or have more than five sexual partners a year would be included.

The head of the Antibiotic Resistance UK charity says that they would like to offer people a vaccine against gonorrhoea that is more effective. Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea is becoming an increasing problem.

There is a journal reference to infectious diseases.

There is a journal reference to infectious diseases.

There is a journal reference to infectious diseases.

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