Bacterial diseases are a huge public health concern. Such infections may develop in any organ of the body and may result either from the pathogenic organism or even from the immune response from the organism. We take pride in assisting to develop a vaccine against bacterial infection as we offer stubborn technologies with a specific focus in the area of vaccine development.
Overview of Bacterial Infections
The infection is commonly referred to as bacterial pathogenesis in cases were the equilibrium that is usually maintained, between the bacteria and host cells in a healthy person, becomes disrupted. Such infections can occur because of transfer of bacteria from sites of established microbiota, such as the mucosal linings of the nose, mouth, intestines and urethra to the sites such as the lungs, the pancreas, blood, brain, bladder and kidneys, which are free from colonization. As new infectious microorganisms emerge that can change, it is important to also help develop diagnostics tools that will easily adjust to such changes. There is a need for this rapid evolution in diagnostics to properly meet the persistent problems with these pathogens.
Fig.1 Structure of a bacterium. (Doron, S., Gorbach, S. L., 2008)
Diagnostic Tests of Bacterial Infections
- Conventional Approaches
Cellular Cultures approach of artificially reproducing the pathogenic bacteria in combination with Biochemical techniques for their identification is the core of detecting bacterial infections. Though specific, cheaper and to some extent, methods available are very slow and sensitive during use.
- Modern Techniques
Nucleic acid encapsulation coupled with the Polymerase chain reaction or PCR has greatly altered the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases where now it only takes a few hours to diagnose a disease instead of days, real time PCR, isothermal amplification LAMP and NASBA methods are some notable examples that can quickly identify pathogens without any cultivation taking place, however sensitive approaches continues to remain scarce at times.
- Point-of-Care (POC) Technologies
Considering the advanced variations in POC diagnosis we can expect to see a rise in easy to use and quick tests that can be conducted in a time efficiently manner that are cheap and affordable for developing nations. Point of Care (POC) Technologies such as LFIA along with systems integrating RT-PCR and microfluidic systems have demonstrated the capability to efficiently and quickly detect antigens or pathogens.
Fig.2 Typical timeframes required for techniques in current use for the diagnosis of bacterial infections. (Rentschler, S., et al., 2021)
Vaccine Development for Bacterial Infections
- Live attenuated Vaccine: Smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis (BCG), yellow fever, polio (OPV), measles, mumps, rubella, typhoid, varicella, rotavirus, influenza (cold adapted), zoster.
- Inactivated-Vaccine: Typhoid, cholera, plague, pertussis, influenza, typhus, polio (IPV), rabies, Japanese encephalitis, tick‐born encephalitis, hepatitis A.
- Toxoid Vaccine: Diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, anthrax, influenza subunit.
- Polysaccharide Vaccine: Pneumococcus, meningococcus, Haemophilus influenzae B, typhoid (Vi).
- Glycoconjugate: Haemophilus influenzae B; pneumococcus (7, 10, and 13 valent), meningococcus C, meningococcus ACWY.
- Recombinant: Hepatitis B, cholera toxin B, human papillomavirus; meningococcus B; hepatitis E.
Therapeutic Development for Bacterial Infections
There is a worldwide problem of drug resistance, coupled with the problem of limited novel drug development approaches to treat infections caused by the most resistant pathogens. The limitations in antibiotics discovery and development provide the impetus for researchers to look for new innovative means of treating bacterial infections.
Immunomodulatory Therapy
Host directed immunomodulatory therapies provide a new promise in that they augment the host natural immune responses to tackle infections without contributing to the destruction of host tissues or processes associated with inflammation. Most promising strategies include the application of innate defense regulator peptides and agonists of innate immune components such as Toll-Like receptors or NOD-Like receptors.
Phage Therapy
The rapid escalation of infection with MDR bacterial strains has rekindled interest in Phage therapy which aims to use bacteriophages that specifically kill any bacterial infection, that could ever replace antibiotics to treat MDR strains,, Bacteriophages tend to be more efficient than antibiotics as they specifically target bacteria and do not infect human cells or interfere with the normal microbial flora.
Anti-virulence Therapy
As the name suggests, anti-virulence strategies do not aim to kill the pathogenic bacteria, but instead focus on disabling the virulence factors within them. Some of these approaches involve chemical inhibitors or antibodies that would neutralize toxins and inhibition of bacterial secretion systems. Also, probably unsurprisingly, anti-virulence therapy has the potential to be longer term than traditional antibiotics.
Our Services
The achievement of bacterial infection therapies and vaccine development is either an expensive or time-consuming domain that requires previous scientific knowledge and compliance to regulations along with meticulous testing of various sorts. We offer Services for Therapy and Vaccine development that fully suite the aggravating problems caused by diverse pathogens.
Types of Bacterial Infections
Why Choose Us?
I The area of vaccine development for bacterial pathogens continues to evolve with new devices opening up exciting opportunities for development and improvement. We aim to make optimum use of these breakthroughs to enhance the reach and effectiveness of the vaccines. If our extensive array of services interests you, we strongly encourage you to contact us without hesitation.
References
- Doron, S., Gorbach, S. L., "Bacterial Infections: Overview." International Encyclopedia of Public Health, (2008). 273–282.
- Rentschler, S., et al., "Emerging Options for the Diagnosis of Bacterial Infections and the Characterization of Antimicrobial Resistance." Int J Mol Sci, (2021). 22(1).
- Hauser, A.R., et al., "Beyond Antibiotics: New Therapeutic Approaches for Bacterial Infections." Clin Infect Dis, (2016). 63(1): p. 89-95.
- Theuret Bacher, U. and Piddock, L.J.V., "Non-traditional Antibacterial Therapeutic Options and Challenges." Cell Host Microbe, (2019). 26(1): p. 61-72.
All of our services and products are intended for preclinical research use
only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.
