Looking from the perspective of biology, the hookworm is an incredible animal. However, for humans it is a dangerous parasite, causing tens of millions infections every year. Hookworms use the host’s blood as its source of nourishment.
Now scientists at the University of Queensland have reached a significant breakthrough in the development of a vaccine to prevent hookworm infection.
Hookworms hook onto the inside of intestines and feed on the host’s blood. Image credit: Michael Wunderli via Wikimedia (CC-BY 2.0)
Hookworms spread through dirty water, poor sanitation, and hygiene practices. Therefore, it is more common in the underdeveloped world countries. It is estimated that hookworms currently infect around half a billion people in the world. Children are suffering more – hookworm infection impacts physical and cognitive development of children. Not only that, but hookworms also cause miscarriages and increase the mortality rates significantly. It is a problem that affects millions of people and it is a problem that needs a solution.
That solution might be an effective oral vaccine administered as a tablet, liquid or powder. Being oral it is more approachable in remote locations in the world, because trained medical professionals are not needed to distribute this vaccine – people simply need to take it orally and it should protect them against the hookworm infection. But how does it work?
Well, as mentioned above, hookworms consume the host’s blood for nutrition. They digest blood through a special set of enzymes. Scientists decided to target one of those enzymes called APR 1. Basically, if the function of the APR 1 is blocked, the parasite cannot get any nutrition, starves, and dies. And this can be achieved through an oral vaccine – human blood can get the necessary components to block that APR 1 enzyme.
Scientists conducted animal studies with mice and found that the new drug can reduce worms in mice by 94 %. That’s a significantly higher reduction than other medicines could achieve. Professor Istvan Toth, one of the authors of the study, said: “Our vaccine candidate can be orally self-administered, bypassing the need for trained medical staff, and means there’s no requirement for special storage, enabling it to reach large, isolated populations. Vaccination can be carried out at a significantly reduced cost, which not only improves the health of those affected and at high risk, but also helps improve economic growth in disease-endemic areas.”
Of course, a lot of work remains to be done. Scientists still need to make sure that the new vaccine is safe and does what it needs to do. Human clinical trials are going to be conducted until the mass produced version can be developed. But breakthroughs like that give hope that a pesky problem like hookworms can be dealt with.
Source: University of Queensland
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