Toxic shock syndrome, vaccine trials ahead
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Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus) is among the first registered in the list of bacteria capable of causing antibiotic-resistant infections and constitutes a risk above all for patients who have to undergo surgery in hospital. S. aureus it represents, in fact, one of the main causes of bacterial infections contracted in hospital, and its dangerousness is precisely due to the ability to mutate, generating strains resistant even to the most recent antibiotics. This is why research in the biomedical field is focusing on the development of a vaccine that prevents infection or at least allows the most serious complications to be avoided. And today we could be close to achieving the goal. Biomedical Research & Bio-Products AG, an Austrian biotech, has indeed announced that a new vaccine of their design has successfully passed the phase two clinical trial. The vaccine has been designed to prevent so-called toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a very dangerous condition caused by a bacterial toxin produced by staphylococcus.
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What we know about Staphylococcus aureus
This pathogen is commonly found on our skin and internal mucous membranes (especially those of the nose and mouth), often without giving any symptoms. S. aureushowever, it is also capable of causing infections which can result in pneumonia, endocarditis (i.e. inflammation of the lining that surrounds the heart), meningitis and osteomyelitis. Serious infections mainly affect patients at risk, for example due to concomitant diseases that compromise the normal functioning of the immune system. TSS, on the other hand, is due to the release of the toxin TSST-1 (Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxin 1).
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The toxic shock syndrome
TSS manifests as high fever, low blood pressure, skin rash, and can progress rapidly to cause multi-organ failure and death. Around the eighties, the so-called “Menstrual Toxic Shock Syndrome” (MTSS) was also described, which affects women of childbearing age. According to several studies, women who use menstrual tampons for longer than indicated, or intravaginal devices such as the contraceptive diaphragm, are exposed to a greater risk of experiencing MTSS. This because S. aureus in some cases it can colonize the vaginal mucous membranes, and devices such as those indicated (especially if used inappropriately) can favor the growth of bacterial colonies or the formation of small lesions on the mucous membranes which allow access by the bacterium to the bloodstream.
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The new vaccine
The phase two clinical study was conducted by Biomedical Research & Bio-Products AG in collaboration with the Department of Clinical Pharmacology of the Medical University of Vienna. The vaccine in question, explains Bernd Jilma of the Austrian university, was developed starting from the inactivated (detoxified) TSST-1 toxin, but which is still able to trigger the patient’s immune response. “The vaccine is administered intramuscularly and its effects are similar to those of the tetanus vaccine – continues Jilma, who underlines – It is effective regardless of whether the bacterial strain is resistant or not to antibiotics”. The results of the study, currently under review for publication, seem to indicate that the new vaccine is able to guarantee immunity for at least two years. The next step will be the phase three clinical trial.
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