Experimental Vaccine Fights Traveler's Diarrhea

A vaccine developed in Sweden to combat bacterial traveler's diarrhea has had good results in recent tests. The new drug, developed from a cholera vaccine, targets the chief cause of traveler's diarrhea: a bacteria called enterotoxigenic E. coli, or ETEC, which is spread through contaminated food and water.

Swedish researchers used part of the cholera vaccine because a toxin produced by cholera is very similar to an ETEC-produced toxin. The new vaccine also contains killed E. coli cells, to stimulate the immune system to attack the germs before they land in the intestine and start making toxin.