Vaccine
-
The incidence of local reactions to diphtheria-, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP-) vaccines in infants and toddlers increases with each subsequent dose, and entire thigh swellings (ETS) have been reported. Lowering the amount of antigen or of adjuvant may decrease the reactogenicity of DTaP while maintaining a protective immune response. ⋯ Local reactions due to DTaP booster doses in the second year of life can be reduced by reducing the amount of antigen in the respective vaccine while an adequate immunogenicity is maintained. Aluminum-free vaccines induced ETS and fever most commonly. Any changes in vaccine composition should lead to a full evaluation of the new product.
-
We assessed the long-term protection afforded by a killed whole-cell oral cholera vaccine produced in Vietnam. A mass immunization of children and adults with the killed whole-cell oral cholera vaccine was undertaken in half of the communes of Hue, Vietnam, in 1998; the remaining communes were immunized in 2000. ⋯ The overall vaccine effectiveness 3-5 years after vaccination was 50% (9-63%). This low-cost, easily administered vaccine should be considered as a tool for the control of cholera.
-
The report of an hypothesised link between measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism in 1998 became a major public health issue in the United Kingdom (UK), leaving most experts surprised by the overwhelming influence it had on public opinion about MMR vaccination. Coverage rates fell dramatically, and did not start to recover until 2004. Could this public reaction have been predicted? ⋯ The Sandman model provided a useful framework to analyse this controversy and explained a significant portion of the community reaction and subsequent fall in vaccination coverage rates.
-
To test whether inactivated influenza vaccines distributed during the 2003-2004 influenza season in the northern hemisphere were able to confer protection against the mismatched variant A/Fujian/411/2002 virus strain, we measured haemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibodies in elderly subjects vaccinated with three inactivated vaccines against the homologous A/H3N2 vaccine strain (A/Panama) and against the mismatched A/Fujian strain. The results showed that, while 76 to 80% of elder people vaccinated with conventional vaccines had protected levels of antibodies against the A/Fujian heterovariant strain, those vaccinated with the MF59-adjuvanted vaccine have protective levels of antibodies in >98% of the cases. We conclude that MF59-adjuvanted vaccines confer protection also against influenza virus strains which are not fully matched with those included in the vaccine.
-
DNA vaccination is a potent means for inducing strong CD4+ (Th1) and particularly CD8+ mediated immune responses and protective immunity against tuberculosis infection in mice. Here we have analyzed the potential of a DNA vaccine encoding the immunodominant mycolyl-transferase Ag85A for increasing the efficacy of the current tuberculosis vaccine Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in three long-term survival experiments. BALB/c mice were vaccinated with BCG either following DNA priming or prior to DNA boosting. ⋯ Priming with Ag85A but not control DNA increased significantly the protective efficacy of the BCG vaccine as indicated by reduced cachexia and prolonged survival time: 32 weeks versus 23 weeks in one experiment and 33 weeks versus 26 weeks in another experiment (MST in control, TB infected mice: 17 weeks in both experiments). On the other hand, boosting of BCG by subsequent Ag85A DNA in saline or vaxfectin--or recombinant 85A protein or MVA-85A for that matter--did not augment the efficacy of BCG (MST 19-21 weeks in all vaccinated groups versus 11 weeks in control, TB infected mice). Our results demonstrate that Ag85A DNA priming can increase efficacy of BCG and that boosting protocols of BCG may possibly be hampered by the induction of Th(IL-17) cells.