A group of scientists say they are getting closer to developing a vaccine that could help prevent strep throat and scarlet fever.
In a recent issue of the journal Nature Genetics, researchers from Britain’s Wellcome Sanger Institute and Cambridge University, and Australia’s Doherty Institute and Queensland University, reported that they have identified molecular targets for many strains of streptococcus, including Group A, which is one of the world’s top 10 deadly infectious diseases.
So far, efforts to create a Strep A vaccine have fallen short, partially because there are so many strains of the bacteria. But the researchers in this study used DNA data from 2,000 Strep A samples to pinpoint common genes in all the strains. Using this data, the researchers said that drugmakers could zero in on the molecular targets needed to create an effective vaccine.
Read the full Reuters report.