By cutting off the capacity for the bacterial pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae to use the mineral zinc, researchers say gonorrhea infection can be prevented. Photo by adamkontor /Pixabay

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Researchers may have found a way to prevent gonorrhea infection, which affects more than 820,000 people each year, a new study says.

By cutting off the capacity for the bacterial pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae to use the mineral zinc, researchers say they can prevent infection, according to research published Monday in PLoS Pathogens.


This is an important finding because, in addition to gonorrhea being resistant to most drugs, it may lead to development of a vaccine against the sexually transmitted infection.

"Our results are significant because N. gonorrhoeae will die if it can't get enough zinc," Cynthia Nau Cornelissen, senior author of the study and director of the Center for Translational Immunology in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, said in a press release.

If untreated, gonorrhea can lead serious health problems, including pelvic inflammatory disease which causes infertility and fatal pregnancies where a fertilized egg implants outside the womb.

N. gonorrhoeae is difficult to treat because of its outer membrane that helps the disease counteract the human body's natural defense mechanism.

The researchers discovered the TdfJ and TdfH take zinc from the human protein gene S100A7 after binding to it. That zinc powers N. gonorrhoeae, which helps it to stay alive.

The researchers plan to use these results to produce a vaccine to "starve and kill" N. gonorrhoeae, which they hope will keep it from infecting the host.