PNEUMOFOCUS
BULLETIN OF GAVI'S PNEUMOADIP AT JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
PNEUMOADIP: PNEUMOCOCCAL VACCINES ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT AND INTRODUCTION PLAN
Volume 3, No. 5, May, 2006
In This Issue |
| May 18, 2006 – In the online edition of The Lancet, a group of leading global health
experts have come together to call for vaccine manufacturers and international donors to negotiate affordable pricing of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and for governments of developing world countries and their partners to establish disease surveillance networks and begin preparations for pneumococcal vaccine introduction. This article is available in the Early Online Publication section of The Lancet http://www.thelancet.com/journals/eop. To read PneumoADIP’s press release about this publication, visit http://preventpneumo.org/press_center/releases.htm. To read PATH’s press release about this publication, visit http://path.org/news/PATHan052206_call_to_pneumo_action.php. |
| May 12, 2006 – In a recent synopsis reported by CDC about the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS), GAVI was cited as an important global partnership and funding mechanism available to sustain immunization programs. The WHO has recommended that the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine be considered for inclusion in childhood vaccination programs. GAVI’s role in offering financial support to introduce such new and underused vaccines, improve injection safety, and strengthen routine immunization services was commended. MMWR 2006 May; 55(18): 511-15. To learn more about GIVS, visit http://www.who.int/vaccines/GIVS/ |
| Effects of PCV-7 on Drug-Resistant Strains. Based on laboratory data obtained from Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABC), disease caused by antibiotic-resistant pneumococci was estimated during the years 1996 to 2004. Since five serotypes in the PCV-7 vaccine are responsible for most penicillin resistant infections, the authors attempted to examine the effect of the vaccine on invasive disease caused by resistant strains. It was found that rates of invasive disease caused by penicillin-resistant strains and strains resistant to multiple antibiotics peaked in 1999, before the introduction of the vaccine in 2000. By 2004, these rates had decreased by 57% and 59% respectively. Disease caused by penicillin-resistant strains decreased in children under two years of age and in adults 65 years or older by 81% and 49% respectively. However there was an observed increase in infections caused by serotypes not included in the vaccine. These data support the existing evidence that introduction of the PCV-7 vaccine has led to a decrease in the rate of antibiotic-resistant invasive pneumococcal infections in children as well as older people. Kyaw et al. New Eng. J. Med. 2006 Apr; 354(14): 1455-1462. PCV-7 Co-immunization – Efficacy and Outcome. A study was conducted in order to evaluate immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of a hexavalent combination vaccine diphtheria-tetanus-acellular-pertussis-hepatitis B-inactivated polio virus-Haemophilus influenzae type B (DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib) when co-administered with PCV-7. Geometric Mean Concentration (GMCs) for all antigens after the booster dose were similar in both groups. In conclusion the DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib and PCV-7 were highly immunogenic, well-tolerated and safe when co-administered at 2, 3 and 4 months of age with a booster dose at 12-15 months of age. These results support the co-administration of PCV-7 with DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib as part of the routine immunization schedule for infants and children. Knuf et al. Vaccine 2006 (In Press). Development of Genetic-Based Diagnostic Assays. Lower respiratory tract samples from patients with and without signs of S. pneumoniae infection were subjected to real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR), targeting the pneumolysin gene. For comparative analysis, DNA from positive controls with predefined colony forming units (CFUs) per milliliter were included to allow estimation of CFU per milliliter for the test samples. It was found that the RQ-PCR assay significantly increased the number of significant findings of S. pneumoniae. The quantitative nature of the assay suggest that high concentration of bacteria likely represent clinically significant infection with S. pneumoniae, supported by the clinical data presented in this study. The method, although currently not as cost effective as respiratory culture, is simple, rapid and seems to be particularly useful in cases where short antibiotic treatment has been administered before sampling. Kais et al. Diag. Microbio. Inf. Dis. 2006 (In Press). Validation of a Novel Serotyping Assay. A multibead assay, based on a multiplexed inhibition-type immunoassay that can be performed semiautomated with a flow cytometer, was validated for use with clinical isolates obtained from Mexico , Denmark , Brazil , and in a previous study, the United States . In almost all cases the multibead assay produced unambiguous results that matched the Neufeld test results. These data suggest that the multibead assay is well suited for large-scale epidemiologic studies because it is simple, reliable, and fast. Furthermore the bacterial isolates can be stored either frozen or at room temperature for a prolonged period, which may reduce cost and transportation logistics in the field. Lin et al. J. Clin. Microbio. 2006 Feb; 44(2): 383-388. |
In the April 2006 PneumoFOCUS (Volume 3, No. 4) that was emailed on April 28, 2006 , two corrections are noted: (1) South Africa committed $20million to IFFIm; (2) The description title for summary of the scientific paper by Fisman et al 2006 is “Outcome of Pneumococcal Vaccination in Adults.” These two corrections have been made in the online version of the April 2006 PneumoFOCUS, which is available at http://preventpneumo.org/newsletter/april06.htm |