23 Feb Vaccine Made with Synthetic Gene Protects Against Deadly Pneumonia
ScienceDaily
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed an experimental vaccine that appears to protect against an increasingly common and particularly deadly form of pneumococcal pneumonia. Details of the new vaccine, which was tested in an animal model, are reported in a paper published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Pneumococcal pneumonia can occur when the lungs are infected with the bacterial species Streptococcus pneumoniae (also known as pneumococcus). “Like many microbes that cause pneumonia, pneumococcus is spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing,” said principal investigator Liise-anne Pirofski, M.D., professor of medicine and of microbiology & immunology and the Selma and Dr. Jacques Mitrani Chair in Biomedical Research. Symptoms include cough, fever, shortness of breath, and chest pain.