A Controlled Human Pneumococcal Infection Model (PIM) Study
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2023-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is the leading cause of pneumonia,
bacterial meningitis and bacteraemia worldwide in the very young and the elderly. Although
pneumococcal vaccines exist, they do not provide complete protection and new strategies to
combat this pathogen are urgently needed. Asymptomatic infection of S. pneumoniae in the
human nasopharynx precedes the development of pneumococcal disease. Previously, an
Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage (EHPC) model has been developed at the Liverpool
School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). The current study entails to establish this model in
healthy adults living in the Netherlands using the inoculation dose currently used at LSTM.
Healthy adult participants (M/F) will be inoculated intranasally with strain BHN418, a
penicillin sensitive serotype 6B strain of S. pneumoniae that was previously isolated from a
healthy carrier. Following inoculation, participants will be monitored and blood and nasal
samples will be collected over a period of 28 ± 3 days. Participants will receive a course of
pheneticillin to eradicate infection on or shortly after the last visit at day 28 ± 3, unless
S. pneumoniae is not detected on both day 14 and 28 ± 3 post-inoculation.