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June 14, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Epidemiology of Pertussis in a West African Community Before and After Introduction of a Widespread Vaccination Program" American Journal of Epidemiology Online (www.aje.oupjournals.org)

(05/15/02) Vol. 155, No. 10, P. 891; Preziosi, Marie-Pierre; Yam, Abdoulaye; Wassilak, Steven G.F.

The spread of pertussis and its control is still an issue throughout the world.  Research in a community in West Africa over a period of 13 years demonstrates the epidemiology of the disease before and after the introduction of a vaccination program.  Children under the age of 15 years between January 1984 and December 1996 were immunized against pertussis and followed prospectively over the period.  Before the vaccinations began, the disease struck some 18.3 percent of children under the age of five years, with 2.8 percent of children dying of pertussis.  The vaccination program resulted in a drop of incidence by 27 percent within three years and by 46 percent within six years.  Not all children were immunized, but the study indicates that the disease affects children tremendously and that vaccination can provide herd-immunity protection even if not all children are reached with a vaccination effort.

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