CONFORMATIONS OF SHIGELLA FLEXNERI 7A AND 7B O-SPECIFIC POLYSACCHARIDE

摘要

Approximately one in ten deaths of children under five are due to diarrhoeal or dysentery related diseases. Several pathogens are responsible for almost all of these illnesses, however infection by the Shigella bacterium is the most common. Annually, shigellosis causes over half a million deaths globally and it remains endemic in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. There are over 40 different serotypes of Shigella based on the organism's O-specific polysaccharide (OPS), although a small number are responsible for nearly all such disease.1 The polysaccharide capsule is the main virulence factor and the target of conjugate shigella vaccines currently in development.