Another live pneumococcal vaccine in the works - serotype replacement issues

[Marnica]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/aeco-vmw021811.php

"The pediatric vaccine is a great victory for modern medicine, but it doesn't cover all strains of disease-causing pneumococcus – some of which have recently emerged and are very virulent,"

The researchers focused on developing a vaccine against serotype 3 – a pneumococcal strain that was not included in the pediatric vaccine used for the past decade and that has emerged as a cause of serious pneumonia in adults and children. Serotype 3 can trigger inflammation so overwhelming that it can result in very severe disease or even death.

And why has this more virulent strain emerged over the last decade??  

This will never end....another strain will emerge and so on and so forth. Science cannot and will never outsmart or outmanuever mother nature. I truly believe it cannot be done. JMHO.

[no5no5]

Yeah, I'm not sure that anyone believes that it is possible or even desirable to eradicate all disease or prevent new strains of disease or new diseases from emerging.  

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by no5no5 

Yeah, I'm not sure that anyone believes that it is possible or even desirable to eradicate all disease or prevent new strains of disease or new diseases from emerging.  

 Im not sure people think that's it's possible, but it doesn't seem that that is deterring science from trying. The eradication of infectious disease has been a goal of science/public health for decades. Obviously not ALL infectious disease can be eradicated, but the concensus seems to be as much/as many as possible.