News

Increased investment in research and development for new vaccines is key to halting the spread of genital herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and trichomoniasis, according to a new special issue of the journal Vaccine, co-edited by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States’ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Health (NIH).

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a common source of infections that occur after surgeries involving prosthetic joints and artificial heart valves. The grape-shaped microorganism adheres to medical equipment, and if it gets inside the body, it can cause a serious and even life-threatening illness. A staph infection can’t start unless Staphylococcus cells first cling to a surface, however, which is why scientists are hard at work exploring bacteria-resistant materials as a line of defense.