Also known as endemic typhus, Murine typhus is an acute febrile illness that is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected fleas that are commonly found on rats. Murine typhus vaccines and therapeutics still have limited development and that is where our company comes in, we'll join forces so we can find solutions.
Introduction to Murine Typhus
Murine typhus is a febrile infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Rickettsia typhi. This disease is acquired via bites of infected fleas normally located in rodent reservoirs. Typing of the disease has been reported all over the globe including Southeast Asia, Northeastern regions of America, Mediterranean countries and Northern regions of Africa.
Even with a high prevalence, murine typhus is often thought of as an "orphan" disease. This also occurs because the disease is non-specific and can present as a viral infection. The combination of fever, headache, rash, and gastrointestinal involvement makes diagnosis difficult; worse, this is made even more difficult by the lack of adequate resources in some environments.
Fig.1 Geographic distribution of included studies describing the untreated mortality of murine typhus. (Doppler J. F., et al., 2020)
Vaccine Development for Murine Typhus
The acceptability of an R. typhi vaccine in a mouse model is dependent on a number of factors one of them being how the R. typhi interacts with the mouse immune system. The interplay between the bacterium and the immune system makes it difficult to develop immunogenicity safe and effective vaccines for the pool of mice composed of ms and αβ ts.
Various vaccines are being researched to approach the development of a murine typhus vaccine which include whole inactivated cell vaccines, mRNA and protein subunit vaccine targeting specific antigens from R. typhi, also live attenuated vaccine candidates. All of those strategies are working towards generating efficient and durable immune responses in order to be able to quickly recover from R. typhi infections and disease.
Therapeutics Development for Murine Typhus
Doxycycline and azithromycin, which belong to the class of tetracyclines and macrolides, respectively, are currently the first-line drugs indicated for murine typhus. Also, fluoroquinolones and newer tetracyclines have been taken up by researchers as alternative candidates for treating murine typhus. Further, there is research on enhancing effectiveness of existing drugs by using it in combination with other drugs as well as on overcoming emerging resistance to antimicrobial drugs.
Discover People Our pipeline combines the search for new antimicrobial agents, drug repurposing and drug combinations. Our drug repurposing services aim to bring the most value to our clients. More information about the services we offer can be found on our therapy development page.
Our Services
Advancing the development of vaccines and therapies against murine typhus, it would be necessary to conduct extensive studies on the infection, devise new scientific methods, and perform considerable testing. Our firm is poised and committed to advancing in the field and finding viable methods to address the neglested disease.
Infectious Disease Models
- Intradermally Inoculated Adult Rat Models
- Subcutaneously Inoculated Newborn Rat Models
- Orally Inoculated Young Rat Models
- Subcutaneously Inoculated BALB/c Mouse Models
We offer a comprehensive facility for preclinical services such as in vitro tests, in vivo challenge models, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies to facilitate the development of candidate vaccines and therapeutics. If this service has aroused your interest, then we will be glad to hear from you with the necessary additional questions and requests for price quotes.
References
- Doppler, Johannes F., and Paul N. Newton. "A systematic review of the untreated mortality of murine typhus." PLoS neglected tropical diseases 14.9 (2020): e0008641.
- Blacksell, Stuart D., et al. "Laboratory-acquired scrub typhus and murine typhus infections: the argument for a risk-based approach to biosafety requirements for Orientia tsutsugamushi and Rickettsia typhi laboratory activities." Clinical Infectious Diseases 68.8 (2019): 1413-1419.
All of our services and products are intended for preclinical research use
only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.
