Vaccine
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The burden of typhoid fever remains high in impoverished settings, and increasing antibiotic resistance is making treatment costly. One strategy for reducing the typhoid morbidity and mortality is vaccination with the Vi polysaccharide vaccine. We use a wealth of new economic and epidemiological data to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Vi vaccination against typhoid in sites in four Asian cities: Kolkata (India), Karachi (Pakistan), North Jakarta (Indonesia), and Hue (Vietnam). ⋯ These programs, along with a similar program in Karachi, would be considered "very cost-effective" (e.g. costs per DALY averted less than per capita gross national income (GNI)) under a wide range of assumptions. Community-based vaccination programs that also target adults in Kolkata and Jakarta are less cost-effective because incidence is lower in adults than children, but are also likely to be "very cost-effective". A program targeting school-aged children in Hue, Vietnam would prevent 21 cases, avert 6 DALYs, and not be cost-effective (US$3779 per DALY averted) because of the low typhoid incidence there.
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Letter
Cervical cancer vaccination: the real meaning of cross-protection and its impact on the prevention.
Prophylactic VLP-based vaccines effectively prevent papillomavirus infections with a high level of antibodies and safety. An 18% increased efficacy against CIN 2+ lesions associated with HPVs 16/18 has been observed with the appliance of the HPV16/18 AS04 adjuvanted recombinant vaccine.
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The immunogenetic basis for variations in immune response to vaccines in humans remains largely unknown. Many factors can contribute to the heterogeneity of vaccine-induced immune responses, including polymorphisms of immune response genes. ⋯ We demonstrate associations between genetic variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) in HLA class I and class II genes, cytokine, cell surface receptor, and toll-like receptor genes and variations in immune responses to measles vaccine. Such information may provide further understanding of genetic restrictions that influence the generation of protective immune responses to vaccines, and eventually the development of new vaccines.