Vaccines Against Salmonella Typhi

Using an established model of human typhoid infection, whereby healthy adults are deliberately exposed to typhoid-causing bacteria, the investigators will determine how effective a new typhoid conjugate vaccine (Vi-TCV) is in preventing infection. The new typhoid vaccine will be compared with a control vaccine (meningococcal ACWY). The protective effect of a currently used typhoid polysaccharide vaccine (Vi-PS) will also be studied and compared with the control vaccine using this model of typhoid infection. A second component of this study will involve vaccinating 15-20 participants with Vi-PS. Serum will be obtained prior to vaccination and 4-6 weeks after vaccination. The post-vaccination serum will be pooled and used to create an anti-Vi IgG serum standard.

Typhoid fever is an infection caused by a bacterium, Salmonella Typhi, that only causes disease in humans. It is transmitted faecal-orally and causes more than 22 million infections every year in developing countries, such as areas of Asia, Africa and South America, where access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities is limited. Although typhoid fever is treatable with effective antibiotics, there are more than 200,000 deaths every year in these resource-limited regions. Salmonella Typhi could be eradicated but improving sanitation and living conditions in endemic regions is difficult. Vaccination to prevent the transmission of Salmonella Typhi could significantly reduce the burden of disease. The currently licensed typhoid vaccines are only moderately effective in preventing infection in people who have been immunised and no vaccines are licensed for use in young children. Novel typhoid vaccines have been developed to overcome these problems, but more research and information is needed to study how well these vaccines work before they can be routinely used. This study proposes to investigate the protective effect of a novel typhoid vaccine (typhoid Vi polysaccharide capsule - tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine) using a human challenge model of typhoid infection. Healthy adults will be vaccinated with the novel typhoid vaccine, a currently used typhoid vaccine (Vi polysaccharide capsule vaccine) or a control vaccine. One month after vaccination, participants will be exposed to live Salmonella Typhi by drinking a solution containing the bacteria. Participants will then be closely monitored to determine which participants develop infection and which are protected. In addition to assessing the protective effect of conjugated and unconjugated typhoid vaccines, the effect the vaccines have on the immune system and on the clinical course of typhoid infection will also be studied. It is hoped that the knowledge gained from this study will contribute to the use of vaccines against Salmonella Typhi to help control this preventable disease.