Experimental Human Carriage of Pneumococci

Because human carriage of pneumococcus usually results in improved immunity to future infections without any development of disease, Stephen Gordon of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom will use an intranasal inoculation with a safe strain of the bacteria to study the mechanisms of mucosal immunity in the lungs and to explore the potential for a vaccine based on his findings. In this project's Phase I research, Gordon successfully demonstrated that human carriage of pneumococcus provides improved immunity to future infections, and that nasal inoculation immunizes the lungs against the pathogen. In Phase II, Gordon will work to assess the reproducibility of his model to ensure its robustness as a candidate for a pneumococcal vaccine.