Role of schools in the transmission of measles in rural Senegal: implications for measles control in developing countries. (1/1242)

Patterns of measles transmission at school and at home were studied in 1995 in a rural area of Senegal with a high level of vaccination coverage. Among 209 case children with a median age of 8 years, there were no deaths, although the case fatality ratio has previously been 6-7% in this area. Forty percent of the case children had been vaccinated against measles; the proportion of vaccinated children was higher among secondary cases (47%) than among index cases (33%) (prevalence ratio = 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.76). Vaccinated index cases may have been less infectious than unvaccinated index cases, since they produced fewer clinical cases among exposed children (relative risk = 0.55, 95% CI 0.29-1.04). The secondary attack rate was lower in the schools than in the homes (relative risk = 0.31, 95% CI 0.20-0.49). The school outbreaks were protracted, with 4-5 generations of cases being seen in the two larger schools. Vaccine efficacy was found to be 57% (95% CI -23 to 85) in the schools and 74% (95% CI 62-82) in the residential compounds. Measles infection resulted in a mean of 3.8 days of absenteeism per case, though this did not appear to have an impact on the children's grades. Among the index cases, 56% of children were probably infected by neighbors in the community, and 7% were probably infected at health centers, 13% outside the community, and 24% in one of the three schools which had outbreaks during the epidemic. However, most of the school-related cases occurred at the beginning and therefore contributed to the general propagation of the epidemic. To prevent school outbreaks, it may be necessary to require vaccination prior to school entry and to revaccinate children in individual schools upon detection of cases of measles. Multidose measles vaccination schedules will be necessary to control measles in developing countries.  (+info)

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nvited commentary: vaccine failure or failure to vaccinate?  (+info)

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aning of vaccine-induced immunity: is it a problem in Africa?  (+info)

Congo polio immunisation campaign gets go ahead.(4/1242)

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Immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine in preterm infants. (5/1242)

AIM: To assess the immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine in preterm and term infants, given in a sequence of three doses beginning soon after birth. METHOD: The immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine was assessed in 176 preterm infants (< 35 weeks of gestation), immunised soon after birth, and compared with that in 46 term infants. Titres of hepatitis B antibodies were determined one to two months after the third vaccine. The significance of the differences between the term and preterm groups was determined using Student's t test. RESULTS: A similar proportion of infants in both preterm and term groups attained protective titres of hepatitis B antibodies (88.7% vs 93.4%, respectively; p = NS). However, the term infants had a higher geometric mean titre of antibodies after the third vaccine than did the preterm infants (701.2 (745.0) vs 469.1 (486.2) mU/ml, respectively; p < 0.03). CONCLUSION: Hepatitis B vaccine is effective in most preterm infants when given soon after birth. It may be advisable to determine the immune response at 12-24 months of age to booster the non-responders.  (+info)

Reimmunization after blood or marrow stem cell transplantation. (6/1242)

Protective immunity to diseases preventable by routine vaccination is lost over time following allogeneic and autologous blood and marrow transplantation. Adoptive transfer of immunity from donors to recipients after allogeneic transplantation is not sufficient to prevent this decline. Systematic reimmunization is necessary at appropriate time intervals following transplantation to re-establish immunity. Response to vaccination depends upon the type of transplant, the source of cells, the immune status of the patient, and the vaccine being used. While inactivated or subunit vaccines are safe in all transplant recipients, live vaccines are generally contraindicated. Reimmunization practices vary widely amongst transplant centers. This comprehensive review summarizes published data on post-transplant vaccination, and based upon these, suggests guidelines which may be used as a framework for development of reimmunization protocols.  (+info)

Rotavirus vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus gastroenteritis among children. Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). (7/1242)

These recommendations represent the first statement by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on the use of an oral, live rotavirus vaccine licensed by the Food and Drug Administration on August 31, 1998, for use among infants. This report reviews the epidemiology of rotavirus, describes the licensed rotavirus vaccine, and makes recommendations regarding its use for the routine immunization of infants in the United States. These recommendations are based on estimates of the disease burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis among children in the United States and on the results of clinical trials of the vaccine. Rotavirus affects virtually all children during the first 5 years of life in both developed and developing countries, and rotavirus infection is the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis in the United States and worldwide. In the United States, rotavirus is a common cause of hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and outpatient clinic visits, and it is responsible for considerable health-care costs. Because of this large burden of disease, several rotavirus vaccines have been developed. One of these vaccines - an oral, live, tetravalent, rhesus-based rotavirus vaccine (RRV-TV) -- was found to be safe and efficacious in clinical trials among children in North America, South America, and Europe and on the basis of these studies is now licensed for use among infants in the United States. The vaccine is an oral, live preparation that should be administered to infants between the ages of 6 weeks and 1 year. The recommended schedule is a three-dose series, with doses to be administered at ages 2, 4, and 6 months. The first dose may be administered from the ages of 6 weeks to 6 months; subsequent doses should be administered with a minimum interval of 3 weeks between any two doses. The first dose should not be administered to children aged > or =7 months because of an increased rate of febrile reactions after the first dose among older infants. Second and third doses should be administered before the first birthday. Implementation of these recommendations in the United States should prevent most physician visits for rotavirus gastroenteritis and at least two-thirds of hospitalizations and deaths related to rotavirus.  (+info)

The radiation-attenuated schistosome vaccine induces high levels of protective immunity in the absence of B cells. (8/1242)

Radiation-attenuated cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni elicit consistently high levels of protective immunity in mice. The cell-mediated pulmonary effector mechanisms have been well characterized but the role of B cells and antibodies remains ill defined. We have compared the immune responses of B-cell-deficient (muMT) mice and their wild-type (WT) counterparts following exposure to the attenuated vaccine. Both groups mounted a T helper type 1 (Th1)-biased response in the skin-draining lymph nodes after vaccination. Interferon-gamma was the dominant cytokine secreted by airway leucocytes after challenge in both muMT and WT mice, but there was a somewhat greater Th2 component in the former animals. The cellular infiltrates observed in the airways, and the pulmonary effector foci, were of similar composition in the two groups although some large foci were present in the muMT mice. There was a marked dichotomy in the protection induced in muMT animals by a single vaccination, with two-thirds showing levels similar to their WT counterparts, demonstrating that cell-mediated mechanisms alone can provide adequate protection. The remaining muMT mice had a mean worm burden identical to that of their challenge controls. A possible explanation is that a proportion of the muMT animals have a genetic defect closely associated with the mu-heavy-chain locus on chromosome 12, which affects their ability to mount a protective cell-mediated response. Three vaccinations enhanced the immunity of WT animals, most likely by augmenting antibody-mediated mechanisms. In contrast, no enhancement was seen in muMT mice, suggesting that the cell-mediated response is not boosted by multiple exposures to attenuated larvae.  (+info)