Researchers will test if a meningitis vaccine could also protect against gonorrhea

Can the mounting problem of drug-resistant gonorrhea be curbed by an existing vaccine designed to protect against another pathogen? Some U.S. scientists are going to try to find out. With NIH funding, researchers just announced they will enroll 2,000 volunteers in a Phase 2 study to see if the GlaxoSmithKline meningitis B vaccine Bexsero also prevents gonorrhea. The bacteria that cause the two diseases are related, and there have been signals for years that rates of gonorrhea are lower among people vaccinated against meningitis. In 2017, researchers from New Zealand reported that teens and young adults vaccinated with Bexsero in the early 2000s were 31% less likely to develop gonorrhea. Given the speed at which the gonorrhea bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics, having additional help in the form of a vaccine could have a major impact, the researchers say.