Group B strep infections in pregnant women can cause serious problems in their newborn babies, and even cause fetal and newborn deaths, but now that Binghampton University researchers have discovered a key protein in the infection, they may be able to come up with a vaccine against it, CBS News Texas reports.
Interestingly, many researchers have been trying to create a Strep A vaccine for several years. Adam Finn, former president of the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, started calling for an A vaccine after four children in the U.K. died from the disease in one year.
Although a vaccine for it isn’t even in the pipeline, Finn said Strep A has been ignored for too long, and that it’s time to “pull our socks up” and find “a way to prevent it.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a grant to Pfizer in 2016 to develop a Group B vaccine, which would be administered to pregnant women, with the goal of protecting their newborns.
SOURCES:
CBSNews Texas January 10, 2024
Source: Original Article
Publish Date: 2024-01-10 19:33:43