Enjoying The Last of Us, which is with an original series from HBO Max, where the story revolves around fungi, scientists at the University of Georgia are developing a vaccine capable of protecting against a variety of dangerous fungi. When tested in animals, the vaccine prevented serious infections and deaths caused by three types of fungi that usually cause opportunistic diseases in people. The researchers now plan to begin testing on humans.
Fungi are usually the least common cause of illness. Usually what we have are infections caused by viruses and bacteria. Nonetheless, the Gizmodo website cites that scientists have pointed out that climate change in the world may end up causing the increase in fungal diseases. However, it is clear that there are still cases where people’s health is seriously compromised by infections caused by fungi and this usually occurs when they are immunosuppressed or already have an illness.
The big problem with yeast infections
The longer people live with health problems that weaken their immune system, the tendency is for there to be an increase in yeast infections. These infections are usually more difficult to treat and prevent than other tops, as there are few antifungal medications that are safe. Vaccine then, there is simply none currently tested and approved.
Fortunately, researchers at the University of Georgia may have taken a big step towards providing greater safety for those people who are immunosuppressed for whatever reason. The experimental vaccine created by the scientists aims to increase protection against three common groups of fungi known to cause fatal infections in humans: Pneumocystis, Aspergillus and Candida. When applied, the patient’s immune system will be “trained” to recognize a “pan-fungal” protein that is shared by these fungi, thus strengthening immunity against them.
Study and results
So far, the fungus vaccine has been tested in mice and rhesus monkeys. In the tests, the results were compared between animals that were vaccinated and those that were not, after the groups had their immune systems suppressed and then were exposed to the fungi. The result was that mice and monkeys that were vaccinated produced antibodies against the panfungal protein.
The results of tests with the vaccine against fungi were published in late 2022 on PNAS Nexus. The lead author of the study, a professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at UGA, Karen Norris says:
As it targets three different pathogens, the vaccine has the potential to be a game-changer for invasive fungal infections.
According to research carried out by the authors of the study, approximately 13 million life-threatening fungal infections occur annually worldwide. Most of these infections are caused by the three fungi studied. Furthermore, another survey says there is an estimated treatment cost of $6.7 billion annually in the US.
