Vaginal vaccine helps against urinary tract infection

By Robert Cervin, May 10th, 2013 | Health | 0 Comments

A vaccine applied to the vaginal tract decreases the time to re-infection for those susceptible to urinary tract infection
Recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) is a very common problem and one which would often be treated with antibiotics. However this approach promotes fungal infections and may also lead to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant organisms.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School studied 54 women with recurrent UTI assigning them to one of three groups., They either received three primary immunizations with a new vaginal vaccine against UTIs followed by three placebo immunizations. Or they received three primary immunizations and three booster immunizations. The third group received just placebo suppositories.

Over six months of follow up, there were no re-infections in over half of the booster group, compared to 22.2 per cent of the primary and placebo group. Where patients did get re-infected, the time to re-infection was over twice as long in the booster group compared to the primary group and nearly five times as long as in the placebo group.