Spiralling Away

As coronavirus vaccination campaigns progress, scientists are also working on vaccines for other serious diseases, including leptospirosis. Responsible for around a million deaths annually worldwide, leptospirosis is caused by Leptospira bacteria (pictured), primarily transmitted through the urine of their many mammal hosts, especially rodents in urban slums. Tackling this disease is challenging, as the Leptospira genus is extremely diverse, with 64 species, 17 causing serious symptoms in humans, and over 300 variants, or serovars. In a potential breakthrough, researchers developed a live-attenuated vaccine based on altered Leptospira, rendered harmless by a mutation in FcpA, a protein in the bacteria’s flagellum, essential for it to move. In mice and hamsters, immunisation conferred protection against several Leptospira species, and prevented them from colonising the kidneys, thereby blocking onwards transmission through urine. More research is needed to test safety and efficacy in humans, but these encouraging signs raise hopes of finding a solution.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image from work by Elsio A Wunder and colleagues
• Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, January 2021