The most recent statistics put the number of regular cocaine or crack cocaine users in the world at 20 million. Of these, one in four will become addicted or develop use disorders.
Among the addicts, many are women who, when they become pregnant, can bring risks to themselves and their children. Cocaine use during pregnancy is associated with serious conditions for pregnant women (such as severe pre-eclampsia or miscarriage) and babies (premature birth with complications, low birth weight, malformations and withdrawal syndrome in the newborn).
A study carried out by a research team I am part of at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil, has achieved a breakthrough: a vaccine that uses the immune system to prevent the perinatal consequences of drug use, and which could protect the children of drug-using mothers. If clinical studies prove the vaccine’s efficacy, it could be an important tool to complement the biopsychosocial treatments already used to treat people with cocaine and crack addictions.
