title: The impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on otitis media-can we extrapolate to pneumonia?
abstract: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) have significant efficacy in preventing acute otitis media caused by vaccine-type pneumococcal serotypes. This article questions whether experiences with pneumococcal otitis can be applied to pneumococcal pneumonia, and examines whether PCVs have a class effect, meaning do different PCVs offer equivalent protection against the same outcome of pneumococcal disease. While PCVs appear to have a class effect in general, variability in serotype-specific antibody concentrations makes extrapolation from one vaccine to another difficult. Antibody concentrations or measurements of antibody functionality may provide a means to anticipate a predicted outcome in pneumococcal pneumonia for certain emergent vaccine candidates.
authors.affiliation: Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva 84101, Israel. rdagan@bgu.ac.il
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dagan
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate