Researchers hopeful on pneumonia vaccine

Dr. Aras Kadioglu of the University of Leicester and Dr. Ed Lavelle of Trinity College said the prospect is the result of their discovery that pneumolysin, a toxin produced by Streptococcus pneumoniae, triggers the human body to produce proteins that then protect against disease, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"This is a very exciting discovery and offers a whole new approach to protecting against the bacteria," Kadioglu said. "The holy grail would be to find a vaccine against all the strains."

Existing vaccines protect against seven strains of the pneumoniae bacterium. It can cause meningitis as well as pneumonia and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 1 million babies every year and to be one of the major killers of the elderly.

Kadioglu and Lavelle have published their findings in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

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