Disease Prevention and Health Reseach

Recent ridicule of mRNA vaccines as “a cure all” in our Politics section by @hill cleanly missed the point. But it did stimulate effort to lightly examine the development of mRNA vaccines against other than viruses. Reading links are below; optional as always. But first, just a bit of introduction.

Human diseases are caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Viruses are unique by entering cells and hijacking internal ‘machinery’ to replicate. All the others consume host cells and replicate themselves from the resulting goo. All the others have cell surfaces much more complicated than viruses, and this is how vaccines (mRNA or otherwise) inform human immune systems to oppose. Before things get bad.

mRNA vaccines are not magical; they inform human immune systems as any other vaccines do. They offer simplicity and faster production at scale. After a suitable molecular target has been identified, and after extensive testing for adverse effects.

For diseases now doing major harm to humans, mRNA vaccines can join many other responses. They are not shown in publications below as silver bullets. They will be (according to me and others) our most effective defense against future viruses that ‘discover’ how to hijack human cell functions.

--
OK here comes the work.

Bacteria are being widely researched and with progress against some:

https://www.cell.com/trends/molecular-medicine/fulltext/S1471-4914(24)00038-8
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Yersinia pestis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease).

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1709794/full
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and responding to developing antimicrobial resistance.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471491424000388
“Bacterial infections were the second leading cause of death in 2019, totaling 7.7 million deaths worldwide [1]. Over 50% of these fatalities were caused by one of five pathogens – Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa – all of which are associated with increasing antimicrobial resistance [1].”
“Although mRNA vaccines are being widely applied to combat viruses and cancer, the development of mRNA vaccines for bacterial diseases has been limited. This article highlights recent findings on using mRNA vaccines to protect against bacterial diseases.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02070-z
“Recently, mRNA vaccines have entered the early phases of clinical development for bacterial diseases. However, bacteria present greater biological complexity compared with viruses, posing additional challenges for vaccine design, such as antigen selection, immune response and mRNA construct design. Here, we discuss critical aspects in the development of bacterial mRNA vaccines, from antigen selection to construct design. We also highlight the current preclinical landscape and discuss remaining translational challenges and future potential for mRNA vaccines against bacterial infections.”

mRNA vaccines against fungi are in early development:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949928326000131
https://www.cell.com/trends/microbiology/fulltext/S0966-842X(21)00218-3
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14760584.2023.2279570#d1e309
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-021-00294-8

mRNA vaccines against parasites are in early development:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/7/4/122
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12951-025-03787-z
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383863364_Recent_Advances_in_mRNA_Vaccine_Development_and_Their_Control_against_Parasitic_Diseases
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9783527838394.ch11

Finally, an ‘all-enemies’ review:
https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1751-7915.70212

 

Cyclospora parasites in food are among many similar risks. Taylor Food's problems in re have a whiff of malfeasance;

Taylor Farms' connections to Trump admin spurs probe into Cyclospora response - Ars Technica

 

I watch TV cooking channels too much, and they describe many uses of 'uninteresting' lettuce.

Very few suppliers include cyclo in products, so it remains a good bet. Other plants like lettuce have more sturdy leaves that offer something after heating to 70 oC (ish) so all those might be favored.

We are informed that dark-colored veg have more vitamins. B vitamins at least are stable in heating, while 'C' is not. Vitamins A and D are scarce in veg, so there you go.

One must eat something. Foods are chosen first for taste appeal; nutrition and anti-nutrition (too much fat, salt or sugar) follow. Am I wrong?

==
Dithering on this seems very much a rich-world problem. Some countries purport to provide safe food supply chains. Elsewhere ...