Research into the pneumococcus bacteria has indicated that it was able to develop a new strain. The strain disguised itself from a vaccine that was introduced to protect against it.
Pneumococcus can cause a variety of conditions, including pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia. There are approximately 90 strains of the bacteria. A vaccine which protects against seven of them was introduced in the US in 2000. Whilst the vaccine was initially successful, the other strains of bacteria were able to pick up the DNA from the dead bacteria.
They then developed new strains with a different appearance that hid it from the effects of the vaccine.
One of the new strains, P1, then became the most prevalent form of the bacteria. Scientists had to develop a brand new vaccine to fight this strain.
The new vaccine now protects against 13 types of the bacteria. Scientists hope to find a common link in all strains of the bacteria going forward. This link could potentially be used to develop a vaccine that protects against them all.
A spokesperson from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Understanding what makes a vaccine successful and what can cause it to fail is important. Our work suggests that current strategies for developing new vaccines are largely effective but may not have long term effects that are as successful as hoped.”
Other experts point out that this research will help influence future vaccination policies as well as provide useful information on how disease causing organisms evolve.