title: Low serum serotype-specific pneumococcal antibody concentrations in young children with Haemophilus influenzae serotype b (Hib) vaccine failure.
abstract: Serotype-specific pneumococcal antibody concentrations were measured in 164 children with Hib vaccine failure prior to routine pneumococcal immunisation. Compared with age-matched controls, a higher proportion of cases had non-protective antibody concentrations (< 0.35 microg/ml) for 7/9 (78%) serotypes tested among 2-4 year-olds, 4/9 (44%) among 5-7 year-olds, 1/9 (11%) among 8-11 year-olds and 0/9 (0%) among 12-15 year-olds (chi(2) for trend=14.0, p=0.0002). Cases aged 2-4 years were also more likely to have non-protective antibody concentrations against more serotypes than controls, suggesting that children with Hib vaccine failure may have an intact but physiologically delayed ability to develop protective antibody concentrations against encapsulated organisms.
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Paediatrics, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, The Blizzard Building, 4 Newark Street, London E12AT, United Kingdom. DrShamez@aol.com
authors.forename: Shamez
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ladhani
authors.forename: Ray
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borrow
authors.forename: Paul T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Heath
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ramsay
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Booy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control; D018073:Haemophilus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019741:Haemophilus influenzae type b / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D018073:Haemophilus Vaccines