Gonorrhea: Meningitis vaccines may provide some protection, studies say

A trio of studies suggests that vaccines already used to prevent meningitis may provide some protection against incurable gonorrhea.

3 research papers, All released on Tuesday In Lancet Infectious Diseases, certain meningitis vaccines provide 33-40% protection against gonorrhea, and vaccine campaigns targeting this issue prevent thousands of cases and save millions of dollars. I discovered that there is a possibility.

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease bacterium that can spread through oral, vaginal, and anal sexual intercourse. If left untreated, it can cause complications such as infertility, joint pain, an increased risk of HIV / AIDS, and infant complications if parents have gonorrhea during pregnancy.

Currently, there is no approved vaccine specifically for gonorrhea. However, gonorrhea has traditionally been treated with a variety of antibiotics, but in recent years bacteria have developed resistance to most of these antibiotics, leading to an increase in incurable or refractory gonorrhea. rice field.

Previous studies have suggested that vaccines that prevent meningitis may have some protection against gonorrhea. Meningitis is a fatal swelling of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord, often caused by a bacterial infection.

There are various Neisseria meningitidis vaccines that prevent infection by Neisseria meningitidis, the bacterium that causes meningitis and sepsis.

In Canada, it is recommended that children receive a meningococcal vaccine that protects them from meningitis groups A and C when they reach the age of 12 months. Teens can be vaccinated with that vaccine or another vaccine that protects them from the A, C, Y, and W groups. For those at high risk of meningitis, a 4CMenB vaccine that protects against meningitis serotype B can be individually considered.

These three new studies wanted to find out more about whether these vaccines help prevent gonorrhea, with a particular focus on the 4CMenB vaccines.

of First studyResearchers examined health records of gonorrhea and chlamydia aged 16-23 years in two cities in the United States between 2016 and 2018, compared those records, and were vaccinated with 4CMenB at the time of infection. I have confirmed the person.

Among the 110,000 people in the study sample, there were more than 167,000 infections, including 18,000 gonorrhea infections and 24,700 gonorrhea and chlamydia co-infections.

Approximately 7,700 people have been vaccinated with the 4CMenB vaccine, and researchers have found that two doses of this vaccine have a 40% protective effect against gonorrhea and a single dose has a 26% protective effect. bottom.

“Our findings suggest that meningococcal vaccines, which have only moderate effects on gonorrhea protection, can have significant impacts on disease prevention and management,” said the US disease. Dr. Winston Abara, Reed, a preventive control center and research scientist, said in a press release. “Clinical trials focused on the use of 4CMenB for gonorrhea are needed to better understand its protective effects and can also provide important insights into the development of vaccines specifically for gonorrhea.”

The Similar results were obtained in the second study When assessing the efficacy of 4CMenB for gonorrhea as part of a vaccination campaign for children and adolescents.

The setting is an ongoing 4C MenB immunization program in South Australia, which was referred to as “the most extensive in the world” in this release.

Researchers compared meningitis and gonorrhea infection data with vaccination records from the Australian Immunization Record, which began in 2018. Patients with chlamydia were used as controls because the cohorts of patients at risk for gonorrhea and those at risk for gonorrhea are similar.

During the first two years of the immunization program, more than 53,000 teens and young adults received at least one dose of 4CMenB, and researchers found that two doses of the vaccine were 33% effective against gonorrhea. I found that there is.

Helen Marshall, a professor at the University of Adelaide and a leader in this study, pointed out that previous studies in this area were small and often seen only for a short period of time.

“The unprecedented scale of the 4C MenB vaccination program in South Australia provides valuable real-world evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccine against meningococcal meningitis in children and adolescents, and gonorrhea in adolescents and adolescents. “Masu,” she said in the release. “This information is essential to inform global meningitis vaccination programs and policy making.”

Marshall, as one of Australia’s leading researchers in vaccination, includes a project to provide meningitis vaccine to young people in the Northern Territory of Australia for free to continue research on potential protection against gonad disease. We are working on further research in this area. In Australia, it usually costs about $ 300 to get two meningitis vaccines in addition to the usual pediatric immunity.

The Third and last study Brought public policy to the problem.

British researchers used modeling to analyze three different potential immunization campaigns. All men who attend a sexual health clinic are vaccinated against meningitis, after a definitive diagnosis of gonorrhea, and based on the evaluation level of patients who may have gonorrhea.

According to the release, this is the first study to assess not only the health effects, but also the cost-effectiveness of using a meningitis vaccine to reduce gonorrhea infection.

Modeling showed that vaccination of patients based on risk level could prevent an estimated 110,000 cases and save £ 8 million, or about C $ 13 million, in 10 years.

“Because the development of a gonorrhea-specific vaccine can take years, an important question for policy makers is whether the meningococcal vaccine 4CMenB should be used for gonorrhea infection,” said a professor at Imperial College London. The lead author of the study, Peter White, said. At release. “Our analysis suggests that vaccination of people at the highest risk of infection is the most cost-effective way to avoid a large number of cases.”

For all three studies, researchers admit that there were restrictions, including a small sample group of ages and some unknowns in modeling vaccination campaigns.

However, their takeaway is that there is increasing evidence that the government should consider considering a meningitis vaccine as a potential tool in the fight against gonorrhea.

33-40% protection may sound less, but if the infection is as common as gonorrhea, it means more than it looks. In Canada, more than 30,000 gonorrhea were reported in 2018 alone.

And authorities are worried that those numbers are only increasing.Last month, New Brunswick Health Chief Flags indicating an increased incidence of gonorrheaStates that the number of cases confirmed in the state in 2021 was five times that of the previous year.