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April 26, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Electronic Response to 'Protein Conjugate Pneumococcal Vaccines'" British Medical Journal Online (www.bmj.com) (04/11/02); Shann, Frank

Frank Shann, director of Intensive Care at Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, responds to a March 30 editorial in the British Medical Journal, titled "Protein Conjugate Pneumococcal Vaccine," by Vana Spoulou, Charles F. Gilks, and John P.A. Ioannidis.  The editorial discussed a new protein conjugate pneumococcal vaccine's ability to protect against pneumococcal infection.  The authors also said that "this vaccine" increased rates of pneumonia in HIV-infected people in Uganda.  However, Shann points out that the vaccine tested in the African country was the old polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine and not the new conjugate vaccine.  According to Shann, "These vaccines have very different immunological effects in normal individuals, and it cannot be assumed that they will have identical effects in HIV-infected individuals."

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