Blood samples were obtained from school entrants whose primary immunization schedule had consisted of three doses of DT or DTP vaccine and three doses of OPV all given before the age of 8 months. The sera were separated and assayed for diphtheria antitoxin, tetanus antitoxin and antibodies to the three serotypes of poliovirus. The results of the assays showed that the abbreviated three dose sch...

OBJECTIVE Data on the effectiveness of the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine in the first 4 years of life are sparse. We evaluated the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 1 and 2 doses of DTaP before 6 months of age and of 3 doses from 6 months of age in Australia, where, since 2003, a fourth dose is not given until 4 years. METHODS We matched reported pertussis cases aged 2 to ...

CONTEXT Increasing reports of pertussis among US adolescents, adults, and their infant contacts have stimulated vaccine development for older age groups. OBJECTIVE To assess the immunogenicity and reactogenicity of a tetanus-diphtheria 5-component (pertussis toxoid, filamentous hemagglutinin, pertactin, and fimbriae types 2 and 3) acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) in adolescents and adults. ...

BACKGROUND Recent studies worldwide have reported increasing numbers of adults diagnosed with Bordetella pertussis despite receiving childhood vaccinations. This study describes a pertussis outbreak at a university medical faculty campus and examines the effectiveness of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccination completed during infancy in Japan. METHODS After the outbreak, self-a...

By precipitation with acetone at 4 degrees C. a refined diphtheria toxoid was obtained as a dry powder, readily soluble in aqueous solutions. The powder itself appears to be stable. When dissolved in half the original volume of physiological salt solution, the toxoid remained stable, in the cold room, for a period of 7 months. Only toxoids should be used which have been completely detoxified by...

Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis (MenB) is a major cause of invasive disease in early childhood worldwide. The only MenB vaccine available in Brazil was produced in Cuba and has shown unsatisfactory efficacy when used to immunize millions of children in Brazil. In the present study, we compared the specific functional antibody responses evoked by the Cuban MenB vaccine with a standard vaccine...

A reversed passive latex agglutination (RPLA) assay for determining the toxigenicity of Corynebacterium diphtheriae is presented. Rabbit antitoxin antiserum was raised by using commercially available diphtheria toxoid. This antiserum reacted with the diphtheria toxin when the culture supernatant was assayed by Western blotting, and it did not cross-react with other extracellular antigens. Affin...

An anti-idiotypic serum prepared against the combining site (idiotype) of specific anti-diphtheria toxoid antibodies was characterized with respect to its interaction with highly diphtheria toxin-sensitive Vero cells. Although the anti-idiotypic serum protected Vero cells against the cytotoxic action of diphtheria toxin, it did not prevent the binding of 125I-labeled diphtheria toxin to the cel...