Scientists develop mRNA vaccine against C. difficile

Can this vaccine in mice help humans fight intestinal bacteria?

If you’re interested in vaccine development, vaccine safety, and breaking medical news, you’d do well to pour yourself a strong cup of coffee stiff drink and carve out some time to read.

There are a lot of interesting developments on the horizon.

The one I find most fascinating is a peer-reviewed scientific paper published three days ago about a new mRNA vaccine to protect against a virulent bacteria called C-diff.

But it’s Sunday evening and I need my beauty sleep, so I don’t have time to tell you about it tonight.

Check back later this week for the skinny on this new rodent study.

(How’s that for a bait and switch?)

In the meantime, here are three other news items of interest:

1. Rwanda rolling out trials of a new vaccine against the Marburg virus

So far in Rwanda this year, 12 people have died from Marburg. Most of them have been health workers.

The population of Rwanda is about 14.3 million people, roughly the size of Illinois.

According to the BBC, this extremely deadly infection is being compared to ebola.

There was “an outbreak” of the virus in Tanzania in 2023 and three people died from it in Uganda in 2017.

Uganda has a population of over 50 million people. That three died from Marburg in 2017 should strike terror in every heart.

What’s more, the Marburg virus is spread by contact with fruit bats and via infected bodily fluids.

Me, I interact often with fruit bats, as do most Homo sapiens, especially in Rwanda.

2. America shelling out $72 million to vaccine manufacturers

The United States is giving $72 million of taxpayer money to vaccine manufactures to make sure the bird flu vaccine is ready to roll out, in case it’s needed.

According to ABC News, there’s no current recommendation for Americans to get vaccinated against the bird flu, but the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services says it’s acting out of an abundance of cash caution.

3. Adults over 75 feeling meh about the RSV vaccine, no one really knows why

Since the RSV virus can be deadly in adults over 75, doctors are baffled by why older adults aren’t lining up for this vaccine.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have vaccines against RSV, the former was approved by the FDA in May of 2023, the latter was approved one year later.

Yet as of the spring of this year, fewer than 25 percent of eligible adults had rolled up their sleeves for the RSV vaccine.

Every adult in America should be running to the pharmacy and celebrating with champagne and a happy dance afterwards.

But, according to this article in Fortune magazine, paid for by CVS, they aren’t.

I. Just. Can’t. Imagine. Why.

Can you?

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