Vaccine project promises significant breakthroughs

30 June 2021

Professor James Ward, Director of UQ's Poche Centre for Indigenous Health features in The Australian discussing his research as co-investigator on the study, 'B Part of It NT'. 

As Australia and the world continue to grapple with Covid-19 vaccination rollouts, a major new University of Adelaide-led public health study into two other serious conditions has quietly slipped into gear across the Northern Territory.

The study, named B Part of It NT, is investigating a meningococcal B vaccine’s ability to perform the dual role of protecting young people against both invasive meningococcal disease and gonorrhoea — a critically important task globally.

IMD presents the more immediate threat. Death occurs in around 10 per cent of cases, and very quickly — sometimes within hours. But even when not fatal it can cause lasting damage, including loss of limbs and brain injury.

Gonorrhoea’s impact is less sudden. Initial symptoms of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) can include a painful genital discharge, but many cases are initially asymptomatic. If untreated, however, the infection can spread, leading to life-changing complications, such as infertility. It can also cause blindness in newborns if passed on during childbirth.

Worldwide, IMD affects 1.2 million annually, and gonorrhoea 106 million. There’s currently no dedicated vaccine for the latter.

The Northern Territory was the logical location: it has the country’s highest incidence of gonorrhoea, most common among Indigenous young people; and its per capita meningococcal B rates are on par with South Australia’s, which previously led the nation.

Numbers this time are smaller. A target of 5,000 participants has been set for the NT, whereas almost 35,000 were involved in the previous SA study. Yet the task is far more complex.

"We’re working with 14-to-19-year-olds in every Territory school and community, across every education system — state, independent and Catholic — and they’re all in vastly different situations. The Top End is different to Central Australia; remote communities are different again," co-investigator, Professor James Ward explains.

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