Pneumonia is a lung infection often caused by bacteria called pneumococcus that is naturally found in healthy people and can improve immunity. In some who are more vulnerable these bacteria can cause pneumonia which is a greater risk to young children under 5 years old, the elderly, smokers and those with other health conditions such as asthma.
In future we may be able to develop a live vaccine that is more effective against these bacteria than current vaccines.
In this research we aim to alter this bacteria by removing the genes that are more likely to cause illness and find out if this improves immunity.
We invite healthy volunteers to have a few drops of the bacteria put in their nose then after a few months we can find out if your body has developed immunity towards preventing infection. Some volunteers will have the bacteria that is commonly found in the nose in most adults, some will have a placebo and others will have the bacteria that has had genes linked to illness removed. We monitor the body’s response carefully. Over 1000 participants have taken part in similar studies with these bacteria.
Volunteers will be seen as an outpatient and they will be required to have a health check, give blood and nasal samples.
Please contact the respiratory research team for more information if you are a
- Healthy
- Non-smoker
- Aged 18-50 years
(You will be paid for your time and inconvenience)
Please contact Respiratory Research for further information on:
Tel: 0151 702 9486 or 07740410290
Email: 2volresearch@lstmed.ac.uk
Text 2VOL to 88802
Web site: www.lstmed.ac.uk/pneumoniavaccine
