Nasal spray vaccine for meningitis in pipeline

Published on Monday 26 July 2010 17:01

SCIENTISTS are developing a nasal spray vaccine which could offer protection against meningitis and pneumonia, it was announced yesterday.

Researchers believe children could benefit from the spray, which is based on tackling the bacteria pneumococcus.

There are more than 90 known pneumococcal types, which can lead to deadly illnesses including pneumonia, blood poisoning and meningitis.

The bacteria also causes middle ear infection and sinusitis and every year across the world up to one million under-fives die because of pneumococcus.

The new vaccine will contain a substance called D4Ply, a fragment of a protein produced by nearly all the different types of pneumococcus.

If experiments prove successful, the vaccine could therefore protect against most strains.

Experiments will focus on cells taken from the adenoids of around 30 youngsters under five to see if the vaccine is effective as a nasal spray.

Researchers believes the vaccine could be much cheaper to produce than those already on the market, helping cut costs in the UK and making it available in developing countries.

The children's health charity Action Medical Research has announced it is pledging more than 100,000 to the research.

Deputy director Dr Yolande Harley said: "Meningitis and septicaemia kill significant numbers of children in the UK each year and can devastate the lives of those who survive.

"This is a very important area of research which has the potential to protect many children from serious illnesses."

The research is being led by Dr Qibo Zhang, from the University of Liverpool.

Dr Zhang said: "Current vaccines are complex and expensive to produce, they do not protect against all of the 90 or so different types of this bacterium and they are not all effective in very young children. Better vaccines are needed."