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MEDICINE
New vaccine
for YD
STANFORD, California, Thursday
(AP). - An experimental vaccine
that could prevent gonorrhea, a vene
real disease that strikes a million
Americans each year, will be tested on
volunteers within the next year, re
searchers have said.
"If the vaccine for gonorrhea is
successful, it would be fantastic," Dr
Mary Guinan, of the Centre for Dis
ease Control in Atlanta, said.
"We could make a significant con
tribution to public health by prevent
ing the disease instead of just treating
it after people get it."
The vaccine is made from a cloned
I protein fragment that appears to pro
duce an immune barrier against a
broad range of gonorrhea-causing
bacteria, Dr Gary Schoolnik, of the
Stanford University School of Medi
cine, said.
In laboratory studies, it blocked
gonococcal bacteria from infecting
human cells with the disease, he said,
and tests would begin within the next
year.
Gonorrhea, the most com
municable disease for which records
were kept in the US, was totally
curable and usually not fatal, but was
j spread easily through sexual contact
and could produce severe complica
tions, including infertility in women,
Dr Guinan said.
Gonorrhea can be treated with anti
biotics, but in some parts of the world
strains of the bacteria are drug-resis
tant.
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