Vaccines against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and Shigella will be critical to a comprehensive strategy to reduce severe childhood diarrhea. Each year these leading causes of bacterial diarrhea cause approximately 500,000 child deaths, according to conservative estimates. Infections from Shigella, which causes dysentery, and ETEC are typically caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water.1 Illness from these bacteria can lead to dehydration and malnutrition as well as impaired physical and cognitive development in young children.2 In low-resource countries, where access to medical care is often limited and inappropriate use of antibiotics is strengthening bacterial pathogens, vaccines to prevent ETEC and Shigella hold dramatic potential.3
PATH is collaborating with private- and public-sector partners to advance safe, effective, and affordable vaccines against ETEC and Shigella.
We’re pursuing a wide range of promising vaccine approaches and related research to bring at least one vaccine candidate for each pathogen to late-stage development. We have also identified a highly promising vaccine component that we plan to test with several of our candidates. Finally, to ensure that ETEC and Shigella vaccines reach all children who need them, we are assessing manufacturing partners, mostly in emerging countries, to take on the eventual manufacture and distribution of these vaccines. To learn more, please visit PATH.
Source:Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 69(5).
1 WHO web page on ETEC:http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/diarrhoeal/en/index4.html; WHO web page on Shigella: http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/diarrhoeal/en/index6.html
2 Niehaus MD, Moore SR, Patrick PD, et al. Early childhood diarrhea is associated with diminished cognitive function 4 to 7 years later in children in a northeast Brazilian shantytown. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2002;66(5):590–593.
3 Walker RI, Van De Verg LL, Hall RH, Schmitt CK, Woo K, Hale V. Enteric vaccines for pediatric use. Workshop summary. Vaccine. 2005;23(46-47):5432–5439.