ATLANTA, April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year, thousands of children become ill from diseases that could have been prevented by basic childhood immunizations.

Bacteria responsible for middle ear infections, pink eye and sinusitis protect themselves from further immune attack by transporting molecules meant to destroy them away from their inner membrane target.

Vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, once the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children, has dramatically reduced the incidence of Hib disease in young children over the past 20 years.

A vampire-like bacteria that leeches onto specific other bacteria – including certain human pathogens – has the potential to serve as a living antibiotic for a range of infectious diseases, a new study indicates.

James Collins, a pioneering researcher in the new field of systems biology and a MacArthur Genius, says: "You know the old saying: 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down?' This is more like 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine work.'