SWAG视频鈥檚 Meghan May discusses pertussis in vaccinated children on 'WMTW'

Meghan May

Meghan May, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and infectious disease at the SWAG视频 College of Osteopathic Medicine, was recently interviewed by for a report on the rise of pertussis in Maine.

鈥淢ost people that are my age never got the disease when they were children,鈥 she told WMTW. 鈥淲e had never seen it and didn鈥檛 have any idea how terrifying and dangerous it was.鈥

Nearly 100 cases of pertussis have been reported in Maine so far this year. The Maine CDC is now monitoring the increasing number of cases very closely.

Maine is one of several states with cases of pertussis in children who are fully vaccinated. May and student Haley Etskovitz (COM, 鈥21) completed a study exploring reasons why that is happening.

When we are vaccinated, our immune system mounts a response targeted specifically to the components in that vaccine. May and Etskovitz found if there are a few bacteria present with a slightly different version of the protein pertactin, they become harder to kill. Over time, these strains with slightly different versions start spreading in the population and progress from being "harder to kill" to being "impossible to kill."

 

WMTW's Tyler Cadorette recently interviewed Meghan May in her lab
WMTW's Tyler Cadorette recently interviewed Meghan May in her lab

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