A trio of papers published this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases make the case that meningitis vaccines could play a role in preventing gonorrhea infections.

Gonorrhea is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), with more than 82 million new infections recorded worldwide in 2020 and global incidence rising. And with resistance to the last remaining antibiotics recommended for gonorrhea treatment also on the rise, there are growing concerns that treatment options are becoming increasingly limited. That's led the World Health Organization (WHO) to label Neisseria gonorrhoeae a priority pathogen.

Given the concerns about how quickly gonorrhea develops resistance to antibiotics, vaccines have been suggested as a possible solution. While no gonorrhea-specific vaccines are currently available, two of the studies published in The Lancet found that the four-component serogroup B meningococcal (4CMenB) vaccine, designed against Neisseria meningitidis, showed some cross-protection against N gonorrhoeae.

And a third study suggests that the use of the 4CMenB vaccine in those at greatest risk of infection could be the most impactful and cost-effective method of averting gonorrhea.