Vaccine to prevent life-threatening pneumonia

More than 2 million children under 5 years of age die from pneumonia each year.(1) In 2006, UNICEF called pneumonia the “Forgotten killer of children”.(2) Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is a bacterium, and is the commonest cause of bacterial pneumonia and meningitis in children in South Africa.

Recent data from the United States show that almost one half of all pneumonias requiring admission in children less than 2 years of age were prevented by the routine use of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in infants.(3;4) These studies highlight the high burden of pneumonia preventable with vaccination.

National surveillance in South Africa for laboratory-confirmed invasive pneumococcal infection identifies more than 1000 cases in children <5 years of age each year. This system only counts the most severely ill patients and those who have specimens taken, so we know the true number of cases is much greater. Data from bacterial strains tested as part of this surveillance system confirmed that more than two thirds of pneumococcal strains causing disease in South African children are the seven serotypes contained in the recently registered pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. This vaccine could also prevent more than 80% of antibiotic resistant infections in children in South Africa.

The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is safe and effective for preventing severe childhood pneumococcal diseases caused by the serotypes included in the vaccine.(5) In addition, as has been demonstrated in a South African vaccine trial, infants and children with HIV infection can also be safely and effectively vaccinated with pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.(6) WHO (World Health Organization) recommend that developing countries introduce this new vaccine in their national immunisation programmes as a priority.(5)

For further information visit the following websites:

1.National Institute for Communicable Diseases at www.nicd.ac.za
2.South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre (SAVIC) at http://www.savic.ac.za/
3.PneumoADIP. Childhood Pneumococcal Disease. Serious. Common. Preventable now. Available at: http://www.preventpneumo.org/index.htm.
4.World Health Organization. Millennium Development Goals. Available at: http://www.who.int/mdg/en/.
5.UNICEF. Pneumonia: the forgotten killer of children. Available at http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_35626.html

References

(1)Wardlaw T, Salama P, Johansson EW, Mason E. Pneumonia: the leading killer of children. Lancet 2006 Sep 23;368(9541):1048-50.
(2)UNICEF. Pneumonia: the forgotten killer of children. Available at http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_35626.html Accessed June 28. 2007.
(3)Zhou F, Kyaw MH, Shefer A, Winston CA, Nuorti JP. Health care utilization for pneumonia in young children after routine pneumococcal conjugate vaccine use in the United States. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2007 Dec;161(12):1162-8.
(4)Grijalva CG, Nuorti JP, Arbogast PG, Martin SW, Edwards KM, Griffin MR. Decline in pneumonia admissions after routine childhood immunisation with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the USA: a time-series analysis. Lancet 2007 Apr 7;369(9568):1179-86.
(5)Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for childhood immunization--WHO position paper. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 2007 Mar 23;82(12):93-104.
(6)Klugman KP, Madhi SA, Huebner RE, Kohberger R, Mbelle N, Pierce N. A trial of a 9-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in children with and those without HIV infection. N Engl J Med 2003 Oct 2;349(14):1341-8.