Vaccine prevents deadly disease

By ANNA PATTY
06jul01

PNEUMOCOCCAL disease kills between five and six children every year, but for the first time, parents now can immunise their offspring aged under two to prevent it.

The vaccine, which is free for children in high-risk groups, will cost most parents $150 a dose.

Until now, there has been no form of prevention against the disease which is treated with antibiotics.

Children under two will be required to have three doses at two, four and six months and a booster shot during their second year of life.

Children aged over two will need only one shot.

Associate Professor Peter Mc- Intyre, deputy director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research at the Children's Hospital, Westmead, said pneumococcal disease could cause ear infections, pneumonia, blood poisoning and meningitis.

"It can be a very nasty disease and causes an average of about five or six deaths each year," he said.

"Children are at higher risk of the disease once they start day care.

"The vaccine is safe and effective, the only issue at this stage is its expense."

Professor McIntyre said the vaccine would be freely available to Aboriginal children and others at high risk, such as children with poor immune systems and heart disease.

The pneumococcal bacteria can sit harmlessly in the back of the throat but can cause serious blood poisoning in some children.

"One in a thousand Sydney children get the bacteria in their bloodstream by the age of two and of those, 10 per cent get meningitis," Professor McIntyre said.

Professor McIntyre said the vaccine, known as Pneumococcal 7-Valent Conjugate, could reduce the number of ear infections in children by 5 per cent.

He said the bacteria caused thousands of cases of ear infections each year in NSW.

"We get about 20 to 25 cases of meningitis in NSW children under two and about 400 to 500 cases of pneumonia each year," he said.

"As the vaccine becomes less expensive and more information becomes available on how it cuts pneumonia and ear infections, it may be possible to get it funded by the Government."

The pneumococcus vaccine covers seven most common types of the bacteria which together cause about 85 per cent of pneumococcal infections. "The vaccine is 95 per cent reliable in offering protection against the seven types," Professor McIntyre said.

"The vaccine is less effective in preventing milder problems such as ear infections compared to the protection it offers against more serious problems such as meningitis."

Dr John Morton, director of respiratory medicine at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, said that pneumococcal disease was more common than meningococcal disease.

"The vaccine is a promising step in the right direction for kids at risk now, with perhaps broader application in the longer term," he said.