A new whooping cough vaccine is under development

Whooping cough is a serious illness that can be life-threatening to infants. A decline in vaccination coverage and the adaptation of the bacteria that cause whooping cough have seen the number of cases increase in recent years, even in the developed world. The situation in Finland remains good compared to other European countries thanks to the active administration of booster shots.

The international PERISCOPE research team has received €28 million in funding for the development of a new whooping cough vaccine. The goal is to create a new vaccine using current gene technology. Finland is represented by a team of researchers from the University of Turku, led by Qiushui Hen and Jussi Mertsola. The team’s whooping cough research is recognised for its high quality by international standards. The Turku-based team is responsible for studying the immune response created by the vaccine and reviewing whooping cough cases in Finland. The development of the new vaccine requires a better understanding of the pathogen and its mechanisms of infection.

Read more about whooping cough and vaccination.

Source

• Erja Hyytiäinen, University of Turku, 5 August 2016 (in Finnish)