Relias Media - Continuing Medical Education Publishing

The trusted source for

healthcare information and

CONTINUING EDUCATION.

  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • MyAHC
    • Home
      • Home
      • Newsletters
      • Blogs
      • Archives
      • CME/CE Map
      • Shop
    • Emergency
      • All Products
      • Publications
      • Study Guides
      • Webinars
      • Group Sales
    • Hospital
      • All Products
      • Publications
      • Study Guides
      • Webinars
      • Group Sales
    • Clinical
      • All Products
      • Publications
      • Study Guides
      • Webinars
      • Group Sales
    • All Access
      • Subscribe Now
      • My Subscription
    • My Account
      • My Subscriptions
      • My Content
      • My Orders
      • My CME/CE
      • My Transcript
    Home » Seeking Vaccines for HAIs

    Seeking Vaccines for HAIs

    Trials include many tribulations — but potential payoff is significant

    July 1, 2018
    No Comments
    Reprints
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin Share Share

    Related Articles

    Are novel flu vaccines an answer for high-risk patients?

    The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: HAIs a high priority: Joint Commission gives infection prevention its own web portal

    The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission drops controversial IC patient safety goal on sentinel event reporting of HAIs

    Related Products

    The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: HAIs a high priority: Joint Commission gives infection prevention its own web por | Single Article

    The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission's Q&A on HAIs as sentinel events | Single Article

    New HHS secretary calls for action on HAIs | Single Article

    The quest for vaccines for Clostridium difficile, Staphylococcus aureus, and other causes of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has not yet led to a breakthrough, but the promise of such a game-changing development makes for a dogged pursuit.

    “There is primary prevention, where you are preventing disease in the person vaccinated, but the downstream effects are interesting to think about,” says Anthony Fiore, MD, MPH, MS, chief of epidemiologic research and innovations in the division of healthcare quality promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    For example, a patient who acquires MRSA typically is prescribed vancomycin, a last-line antibiotic that could be preserved if the patient had staph immunity via a vaccine.

    Thus, vaccines against HAIs would immediately benefit antibiotic stewardship, which has taken on a sense of urgency with the rising tide of drug-resistant pathogens and the tendency of antibiotic use to select out C. diff in the patient gut.

    “These are very challenging vaccines to make,” says Fiore.

    “Many of these HAIs are caused by organisms for which we don’t really understand natural immunity. People can get C. diff infection multiple times. It’s not like measles or hepatitis A, where you get it once, it’s bad, but you never get it again because your immune system now ‘knows’ it.”

    The problem is like the one encountered in the search for a universal influenza vaccine, where researchers are trying to recreate an immune response that the human body has not mounted in nature.

    “For whatever reason, there are a lot of infections for which that is the case, whether that is because there are a lot of strain types or whether you just don’t ever develop good immunity,” he says.

    “When you have a situation like that it is hard to understand how to make a vaccine, which is, of course, just trying to stimulate the patient immune system.”

    As formidable as these barriers are, pharmaceutical companies continue to pursue HAI vaccines in part because the market for an effective one would be substantial.

    “There are some pharmaceutical companies that have taken on this challenge, even in the face of some of the earlier staph vaccines and more recently a C. diff vaccine that have ultimately not worked — even though they looked good in the initial studies,” Fiore says.

    The CDC is not directly involved in the clinical trials, but is staying abreast of the work for a possible breakthrough. Hurdles for safety on a large scale have been cleared, but ultimately vaccine efficacy has not been sustained.

    Phase III trials for both a C. diff vaccine and an S. aureus vaccine were underway as this issue went to press.

    “Fingers crossed,” Fiore says. “Sometimes we only understand in retrospect what the key component was that made a vaccine successful.”

    If successful vaccine against HAIs could be developed, the initial indication would likely be for certain patient groups, he notes.

    “The exception might be a C. diff vaccine if you tried to give it to everyone over 60 or something like an age-based recommendation,” he says.

    “For a staph vaccine, you might end up giving it to people undergoing some sort of orthopedic surgery. Right now, the trial is in those getting spinal surgery. So, it might be that ultimately the indication is pretty narrow.”

    Post a comment to this article

    Report Abusive Comment

    www.reliasmedia.com

    Hospital Infection Control & Prevention

    View PDF
    Hospital Infection Control & Prevention (Vol. 45, No. 7) - July 2018
    July 1, 2018

    Table Of Contents

    Emerging Fungus Hard to Detect, Treat, Remove

    Misidentification of Fungus Delays Outbreak Response

    CDC Hammering Out Healthcare Worker Infection Control Guidelines

    The Next Wave: Diagnostic Stewardship

    NICU MRSA Surveillance: Seek, Find, Then What?

    Seeking Vaccines for HAIs

    Post-endoscopy Infections in Outpatient Surgery

    Joint Commission Looking at High-level Disinfection

    Begin Test

    Buy this Issue/Course

    Financial Disclosure: Peer Reviewer Patrick Joseph, MD, reports that he is a consultant for Genomic Health Reference Laboratory, Siemens Clinical Laboratory, and CareDx Clinical Laboratory. Senior Writer Gary Evans, Editor Jesse Saffron, Editor Jill Drachenberg, Nurse Planner Patti Grant, RN, BSN, MS, CIC, and Editorial Group Manager Terrey L. Hatcher report no consultant, stockholder, speaker’s bureau, research, or other financial relationships with companies having ties to this field of study.

    Shop Now: Search Products

    • Subscription Publications
    • Books & Study Guides
    • Webinars
    • Group & Site
      Licenses
    • State CME/CE
      Requirements

    Webinars And Events

    View All Events
    • Home
      • Home
      • Newsletters
      • Blogs
      • Archives
      • CME/CE Map
      • Shop
    • Emergency
      • All Products
      • Publications
      • Study Guides
      • Webinars
      • Group Sales
    • Hospital
      • All Products
      • Publications
      • Study Guides
      • Webinars
      • Group Sales
    • Clinical
      • All Products
      • Publications
      • Study Guides
      • Webinars
      • Group Sales
    • All Access
      • Subscribe Now
      • My Subscription
    • My Account
      • My Subscriptions
      • My Content
      • My Orders
      • My CME/CE
      • My Transcript
    • Help
    • Search
    • About Us
    • Sign In
    • Register
    Relias Media - Continuing Medical Education Publishing

    The trusted source for

    healthcare information and

    CONTINUING EDUCATION.

    Customer Service

    customerservice@reliasmedia.com

    U.S. and Canada: 1-800-688-2421

    International +1-404-262-5476

    Accounts Receivable

    1-800-370-9210
    ReliasMedia_AR@reliasmedia.com

    Mailing Address

    • 1010 Sync St., Suite 100
      Morrisville, NC 27560-5468
      USA

    © 2021 Relias. All rights reserved.

    Do Not Sell My Personal Information  Privacy Policy  Terms of Use  Contact Us  Reprints  Group Sales

    For DSR inquiries or complaints, please reach out to Wes Vaux, Data Privacy Officer, DPO@relias.com

    Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing