By Julie Bierach, KWMU
SAINT LOUIS, MO – Scientists at Saint Louis University are investigating whether an experimental tuberculosis vaccine is more effective in preventing the disease.
The standard vaccine is currently given to infants in foreign countries, but the disease still infects one in three people worldwide.
The standard TB vaccine called BCG is estimated to be only 50% protective against the disease. That's according to principal investigator Dr. Daniel Hoft, director of immunobiology at SLU. He says researchers have put three key TB antigens in an adenovirus, or a cold virus, to stimulate an immune response against TB.
"We're recruiting people into a trial where we're giving them BCG and then seeing if this new adenovirus experimental TB vaccine, given after BCG, strongly boosts the immune response," said Hoft.
Hoft says another reason to develop a better TB vaccine is because of increasing rates of drug resistant strains of the disease.
"And that's making it harder for us to treat people who develop tuberculosis," Hoft said. "Vaccines can still work against drug resistant strains, so it's important to develop better vaccines that can protect against standard TB strains, but also against drug resistant strains."
Each year, there are nearly 8 million new cases of TB and 2 million deaths.
The US currently does not vaccinate against the disease.