A vaccine against pneumonia, which kills millions of people a year

According to the World Health Organization,Pneumonia is the cause of 16% of deaths in children under 5 years of age - in 2015, 920,000 cases were recorded. If you take the total figure, the pneumococcus bacterium, which is the main causative agent of a dangerous disease, kills about 2 million people a year. Of course, scientists have already created quite effective vaccines against infection, but they affect only certain strains, of which there are a huge number. Researchers at the Australian company GPN Vaccines claim to have created a vaccine that is effective against all types of suicidal bacteria.

The head of the company, James Paton, explained that thecurrently effective vaccine against pneumonia affects complex carbohydrates covering the outer part of pneumococcus. This vaccine, which costs $ 100 per injection, covers only 13 types of 98 complex carbohydrates. Instead of increasing coverage, the company decided to go the other way and create a vaccine that affects surface proteins that are common to all types of infection.

To create it, researchers from GPN Vaccinesteamed up with professors from the University of Adelaide. The vaccine they created is called Gamma-PN and is a pneumococcal strain that was cultured and inactivated by gamma rays. She was tested on animals - indeed, they were able to avoid death from many species of bacteria.

Researchers have already received additionalfunding and vaccine toxicity tests. The company intends to increase the volume of clinical products, and then conduct the first clinical trials in humans. Developers are confident that the new vaccine will not only protect people from a dangerous disease, but also allow them to rely less on antibiotics that may be needed for even more serious diseases.

In 2017, scientists from Uganda made an equally important contribution to the fight against pneumonia. They created a jacket under the unusual name "Maternal Hope", which helps to diagnose the development of the disease.

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