Potent Vaccine For Cholera May Reduce The Disease Burden

Antibodies recovered from humans who survived cholera might prove promise for the development of a potent vaccine for the disease, as per findings from a team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), reported in the online journal mBio. Cholera is an infectious disease that results in severe watery diarrhea. It is caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae significantly in young children. The disease contributes to 3 million cases and 95,000 deaths each year, most prevalent in impoverished regions of the world.

The bacterium,swims to the intestines after ingestion, where it secretes a toxin that causes intestinal cells to secrete massive amounts of fluid. This loss of fluids from the body ultimately leads to death from dehydration and shock if untreated.

The experimental analysis demonstrated that the tail-like flagellum in V. cholerae, which aids its swimming, is coated with the O-specific polysaccharide (OSP) sugar. The human antibodies attached to this OSP coating, offer protection by blocking the ability of V. cholerae to swim and cause disease.

"Our results support a unique mechanism of protection against a human pathogen. We are not aware of previous work demonstrating a comparable direct anti-motility effect of human antibodies", says Ryan – professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Source-Medindia