According to two studies, young
individuals who got a meningitis vaccination have a decreased risk of
contracting gonorrhoea, which is caused by a similar bacteria.
A vaccination that prevents meningitis in
children also reduces the risk of gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted illness
(STI) caused by a similar bacteria.
Although the vaccination has a moderate
effect, cutting STI rates by up to 40%, Helen Marshall of Women's and
Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, believes it might still have a
positive influence on infection rates, especially as antibiotic-resistant cases
grow. Gonorrhoea, often known as the clap, can produce discomfort and discharge
from the genitals in both men and women, but it can also go unnoticed in up to
half of women and a tenth of men. It can cause infertility in women and
blindness in kids delivered to infected moms if left untreated.
Because germs are growing more resistant
to traditional medicines, treating STIs is getting more difficult. People might
acquire reinfections even after good therapy. Some types of
"super-gonorrhoea" are resistant to practically all antibiotics.
The 4CMenB meningitis vaccine was
developed to combat Neisseria meningitidis, a bacteria that causes brain
infections and is closely linked to the gonorrhoea-causing Neisseria
gonorrhoeae. Some of the antibodies produced by the meningitis vaccination attach
to the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea.
In Australia, the 4CMenB vaccination was
made available to persons aged 17 to 20 in 2019. Marshall's team evaluated the
rates of gonorrhoea in persons who received the meningitis vaccination vs those
who did not. It was discovered that obtaining the two needed doses of the
vaccine lowered the risk of gonorrhoea by 33%.
The vaccine's efficiency was determined to
be 40% in a comparable research in the United States, where it was launched for
16 to 23-year-olds in New York and Philadelphia.
"Even if the efficacy is moderate
rather than great, it would still result in a significant reduction in
gonorrhoea," Marshall adds.
In a cost-benefit analysis, Imperial
College London's Peter White and colleagues discovered that offering the
meningitis vaccination to men who have sex with males and frequent STI clinics
would be cost-effective because they are at high risk for infection. Those who
test positive for gonorrhoea or claim to have more than five sexual partners
per year fall into this category.
According to Colin Garner, director of the
Antibiotic Resistance UK organisation, "ideally, we would provide patients
a more effective gonorrhoea vaccination." "However, anything that may
be utilised to combat these resistant microorganisms is clearly of
interest." Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea is becoming more common."
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