Vaccine against MAC?

Bolso1, Thank you for posting this info. Most of us in this group have been here for years now and have hashed over the content of your post at various times along the way. If you scroll to the top of the page here, and click on 'Mac & Bronchiectasis', then click on the 'Discussion' tab; you will see a list of discussions. Scroll through those for several pages and you will see topics related to the post of yours. For example: are swimming in pools safe?, shower heads. etc. There you would find a discussion about special filter and .02 micron showerheads. You can also type in key words in the box with the magnifying glass to bring up older conversations about a specific thing. Sue and I are mentors for this group and are happy to help you to navigate dealing with mac. You are a dear to join this group on your wife's behalf. Was she just recently diagnosed?

It would have been tremendous for my wife to have the possibility of being vaccinated against MAI, when she was diagnosed with bronchiectasis several years ago.
We can’t afford to have to wait for a polyvalent vaccine or a vaccine for each of the pathogens that can affect people with bronchiectasis.
Can you imagine what would have happened if we had done that with regards to diphteria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, chickenpox, polio, etc.?

The only problem with your comparison is that all of the diseases you mention, except tetanus, are infectious person-to-person, which MAI and the related infections are not. Tetanus was included in vaccine research because it was 99% fatal if you got it. Again, MAI is not.

@windwalker Terri - unfortunately, even when you add together the number of people with bronchiectasis and Cystic Fibrosis, we was talking about less than 1/2 of 1% of the population, so the combination - low occurence, not fatal, and not contagious, keep this research from rising to the top of the priority list.

Sad, but unfortunately true.
Sue

I'm sorry, but I cannot see why not being person-to-person contagious is an obstacle to developing a vaccine.
You have a segment of the population that is highly vulnerable to MAI that could be protected by a vaccine, and you would not do it because MAI cannot be transmitted person-to-person?
In the estimation of "market size" you should include the world, not just the USA. How important is it globally?

Interesting answer Sue

Sorry, but the harsh reality is that health research and care funds are limited and developing a vaccine is extremely expensive, and in many cases "iffy" proposition. Dollars are allocated where drug companies and/or the government will get the most return on investment. Both my husband and niece have been involved in health care research, through a university that gets grants from the government and drug companies. Promising projects are abandoned all the time because the money isn't available and/or the perceived demand is inadequate.

As for global reach, I think you are still talking about a relatively small percentage of the population, and the number of places that even recognize and treat MAI are not huge. The sad fact is that a lot of the world population is still worried about keeping babies alive to grow into adulthood, providing adequate food and safe water and vaccinating for contagious diseases. Problems like MAI are not even on their radar.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just pointing out that in the face of scarce resources, things that are worthwhile to small parts of the population fall by the wayside. This is even true of subsets of "headline" diseases like cancer - the rare ones don't get the same research as common ones.

Sue

I understand your reasoning. Nevertheless, I still think that we need to raise awareness that other - more humane and rational - means of handling disease exist and keep struggling for a change.

This is a very interesting discussion. Thank you to those who participated. I agree with Sue that there just isn't enough monry available for the research needed to develop a vaccine (assuming one is possible) for our comparatively small number of patients

It is important to remember that the bacteria is around everyone, but the vast majority of people do not become infected. One must have a problem with the lungs making them unable to clear any inhaled bacteria. For most of us, the problem is bronchiectasis. If we had a cure for that, we would be like the rest of the world and be able to inhale and exhale MAC or any other mycobacteria or bacteria and be just fine. We could even sit in a hot tub.

A promising event recently occurred that some day may bring help to us. On November 13, Insmed, the pharmaceutical company behind Arikayce, received a PRIME designation from the European Medicine Agency for their drug BRENSOCATIB. This drug is an oral med that stops the release of a protein that actuates neutrophils which release an enzyme that damages the lungs of people with bronchiectasis.

A PRIME designation supports continuing research to bring promising treatment to patients.

Wow! Thanks for the update - I'll be watching this.
Sue