BACKGROUND Immunization is one of the most effective ways of preventing illness, disability and death from infectious diseases for older people. However, worldwide immunization rates are still low, particularly for the most vulnerable groups within the elderly population. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of the Oportunidades -an incentive-based poverty alleviation program-...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the economic impact of the routine US childhood immunization schedule: diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis; tetanus and diphtheria toxoids; Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate; inactivated poliovirus; measles, mumps, and rubella; hepatitis B; and varicella vaccines. DESIGN Decision tree-based analysis was conducted using population-based vaccinatio...

Background: Despite the efforts to enhance hygiene education and personal hygiene and use of antibiotics and vaccination, infectious diseases remain the second cause of mortality worldwide. Vaccination is one of the greatest medical achievements in the prevention of mortality and morbidity, which has decreased treatment costs. This study aimed to compare the complications caused by pentavalent ...

Rise of diphtheria cases in adults is a cause of concern worldwide. Pertussis is also now affecting adults. We assessed serum levels of tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis antibodies in 62 adults in Pune, India, who had missed their primary immunization. All adults were then given three doses of tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine at 0, 1, and 6 months. All adults were immune to tetanus but 78% had l...

In Hyderabad, India, diphtheria is common among children aged 5-19 years. On account of low coverage of diphtheria vaccine boosters recommended under the universal immunization programme, a large proportion of children were susceptible/partially immune against diphtheria and/or tetanus. We evaluated immunogenicity and safety of single dose of indigenously developed tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vacci...

BACKGROUND Tetanus is a severe infection that can be prevented by vaccination. In developing countries vaccination coverage is not always high and in developed countries cases may still occur, particularly in elderly people owing to their reduced immunoprotection. It has been estimated that there are about one million cases of tetanus per year globally. In animal studies, vitamin C protected ag...

T cells have diversity in TCR, epitope recognition, and cytokine production, and can be used for immune monitoring. Furthermore, clonal expansion of TCR families in disease may provide opportunities for TCR-directed therapies. We developed methodology for sequencing expressed genes of TCR alpha and beta chains from single cells and applied this to vaccine (tetanus-toxoid)-responsive CD4(+) T ce...

OBJECTIVE The goal was to explore the association of being underinsured and receiving doses at a health department clinic (HDC) with not receiving all recommended adolescent vaccine doses. METHODS A total of 5657 adolescents, 13 to 17 years of age, were sampled in the National Immunization Survey-Teen in 2006-2007. RESULTS A total of 63.9% of all adolescents were covered by private health i...

BACKGROUND  Maternal vaccination with an acellular pertussis (aP)-containing vaccine is a recommended strategy in a growing number of industrialized countries, to protect young infants from disease. Little is known on the effect of this strategy in low- and middle-income countries. Following a previous report on the effect of adding a pertussis and diphtheria component to the tetanus vaccinatio...

Background: Otogenic tetanus is a vaccine preventable disease which continues to be of public health significance. Objectives: To evaluate patients with otogenic tetanus and identify the factors that predisposes patients to it. Methodology: This is a 16-year retrospective review of all patients managed for otogenic tetanus at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University College Hospital, I...