A gonococcal vaccine has the potential to rapidly reduce the incidence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection among urban men who have sex with men

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Author(s)
Hui, Ben B
Padeniya, Thilini N
Rebuli, Nic
Gray, Richard T
Wood, James G
Donovan, Basil
Duan, Qibin
Guy, Rebecca
Hocking, Jane S
Lahra, Monica M
Lewis, David A
Whiley, David M
Regan, David G
Seib, Kate L
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2021
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BACKGROUND: A gonococcal vaccine is urgently needed due to increasing gonorrhoea incidence and emerging multidrug-resistant gonococcal strains worldwide. Men who have sex with men (MSM) have among the highest incidences of gonorrhoea and may be a key target population for vaccination when available. METHODS: An individual-based, anatomical site-specific mathematical model was used to simulate Neisseria gonorrhoeae transmission in a population of 10,000 MSM. The impact of vaccination on gonorrhoea prevalence was assessed. RESULTS: With a gonococcal vaccine of 100% or 50% protective efficacy, gonorrhoea prevalence could be ...
View more >BACKGROUND: A gonococcal vaccine is urgently needed due to increasing gonorrhoea incidence and emerging multidrug-resistant gonococcal strains worldwide. Men who have sex with men (MSM) have among the highest incidences of gonorrhoea and may be a key target population for vaccination when available. METHODS: An individual-based, anatomical site-specific mathematical model was used to simulate Neisseria gonorrhoeae transmission in a population of 10,000 MSM. The impact of vaccination on gonorrhoea prevalence was assessed. RESULTS: With a gonococcal vaccine of 100% or 50% protective efficacy, gonorrhoea prevalence could be reduced by 94% or 62%, respectively, within 2 years if 30% of MSM are vaccinated on presentation for STI testing. Elimination of gonorrhoea is possible within 8 years with vaccines of ≥50% efficacy over 2 years, providing a booster vaccination is available every 3 years on average. A vaccine's impact may be reduced if it is not effective at all anatomical sites. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that with a vaccine of modest efficacy and an immunisation strategy that targets MSM presenting for STI screening, the prevalence of gonorrhoea in this population could be rapidly and substantially reduced.
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View more >BACKGROUND: A gonococcal vaccine is urgently needed due to increasing gonorrhoea incidence and emerging multidrug-resistant gonococcal strains worldwide. Men who have sex with men (MSM) have among the highest incidences of gonorrhoea and may be a key target population for vaccination when available. METHODS: An individual-based, anatomical site-specific mathematical model was used to simulate Neisseria gonorrhoeae transmission in a population of 10,000 MSM. The impact of vaccination on gonorrhoea prevalence was assessed. RESULTS: With a gonococcal vaccine of 100% or 50% protective efficacy, gonorrhoea prevalence could be reduced by 94% or 62%, respectively, within 2 years if 30% of MSM are vaccinated on presentation for STI testing. Elimination of gonorrhoea is possible within 8 years with vaccines of ≥50% efficacy over 2 years, providing a booster vaccination is available every 3 years on average. A vaccine's impact may be reduced if it is not effective at all anatomical sites. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that with a vaccine of modest efficacy and an immunisation strategy that targets MSM presenting for STI screening, the prevalence of gonorrhoea in this population could be rapidly and substantially reduced.
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Journal Title
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
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This publication has been entered as an advanced online version in Griffith Research Online.
Subject
Clinical sciences
Medical microbiology
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
gonococcal vaccine
gonorrhoea
individual-based model
mathematical model