BOSTON, June 21 Researchers in the United States and abroad have developed a needle-free vaccine that protects mice from the leading cause of diarrhea.Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhea worldwide, with more than 300,000 cases reported each year in the United States alone.A recent emergence of a new highly-virulent strain has increased the need for effective preventative treatment.The results suggest that immunization with C. difficile toxin A applied via a skin patch may be a feasible immunization strategy against C. difficile, an important cause of morbidity and mortality against which current preventative strategies are failing, according to first author Chandrabali Ghose, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston.The findings are published in the June issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.Copyright 2007 by UPI
