LA BioMed develops promising vaccine to combat MRSA

Grappling with one of the world’s deadliest contagions for more than a decade without a breakthrough, the country’s leading infectious disease researchers have high hopes for a vaccine developed locally. The NDV-3 vaccine aims to prevent deadly Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which attaches itself to skin and embeds in bodily organs. The so-called superbug is responsible for more yearly deaths than HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis combined. MRSA is the leading cause of skin infections, which often migrate into the bloodstream. Open wounds are especially vulnerable, as are any kind of surgical implants such as a defibrillators, pacemakers or prostheses. Roughly one-third of infections result in death, and the bacteria are so adept at tricking human immune systems that infections spread easily in sterile hospital environments. Dr. Michael R. Yeaman, an investigator at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and chief of molecular medicine at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Carson, introduced NDV-3 as a...