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June 04, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Decline in Invasive Pneumococcal Disease After the Introduction of Protein-Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine”

New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.org) (05/01/03) Vol. 348, No. 18, P. 1737; Whitney, Cynthia G.; Farley, Monica M.; Hadler, James

Wyeth Lederle's Prevnar product is touted as the first vaccine that can protect infants and young children from pneumococcal disease.  Researchers have analyzed the Active Bacterial Core Surveillance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see how well the vaccine is stemming the disease in all age groups.  A 59 percent overall decline in pneumococcal disease cases was seen in children under five years of age from 1998 to 2001.  The difference was seen only among subjects under one year of age and between 24 months and 35 months, with rate declines of 69 percent and 44 percent, respectively.  While the percent changes in disease were similar across all races, the degree of the difference was much higher among African-American children.  Disease rates for serotypes protected by the vaccine decreased 50 percent, while a 27 percent surge was seen in serotypes not covered by the vaccine.  The rates of disease were also lower among all age populations of adults.