OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in people at high risk of pneumococcal pneumonia. DESIGN Prospective, randomised, placebo controlled double blind study. SETTING Nursing homes in Japan. PARTICIPANTS 1006 nursing home residents. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly allocated to either 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine ...

coincidence of autoimmune diseases such as immune thrombocytopenic purpura (itp) with  immunodeficiencies has  been  reported  previously in  patients  who  suffered  from primary antibody deficiency (pad). but there is no original study on immunological profiles of itp patients to find out their probable immune deficiency. in this case-control study, itp patients’ humoral immunity was investig...

To overcome the limited immunogenicity of the meningococcal group A (MenA) polysaccharide (Ps) vaccine, the protein conjugation technology was applied to the development of MenAfriVac® (Serum Institute of India Ltd.). The MenA Ps is covalently conjugated to a protein, which acts as an immunologic carrier. MenAfriVac is a purified MenA polysaccharide tetanus toxoid (TT) conjugated vaccine (10 μg...

We have developed an oligosaccharide-tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine against type III group B Streptococcus. Purified group B streptococcal type III capsular polysaccharide was depolymerized by enzymatic digestion using endo-beta-galactosidase produced by Citrobacter freundii. Following enzymatic digestion, oligosaccharides were fractionated by gel filtration chromatography on Sephadex G-75. A...

BACKGROUND Serogroup C meningococcal conjugate polysaccharide vaccines have been reported to induce significant serum IgG antibodies and immunologic memory in infants. Because meningococcus is a mucosal pathogen colonizing the nasopharynx, local mucosal immune responses may play an important role in host defense against infection and carriage. We have investigated the mucosal IgA and IgG antibo...

Infection is a common problem for bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients during the period of neutropenia that immediately follows the procedure. Gram-negative infections present a particular hazard in these immunocompromised hosts. To augment host defenses against one such pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we immunized bone marrow transplant donors and/or recipients with a polyvalent 0-polysa...

BACKGROUND High rates of endemic disease and recurrent epidemics of serogroup A and C meningococcal meningitis continue to occur in sub-Saharan Africa. A meningococcal A + C polysaccharide diphtheria-toxoid-conjugated vaccine may address this issue. METHODS In Niger three doses of a bivalent meningococcal A + C diphtheria-toxoid-conjugated vaccine (MenD), containing 1, 4 or 16 microg of each ...

BACKGROUND Serotype-specific antibody responses to unconjugated pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) evaluated by a World Health Organization (WHO)-standardized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are the gold standard for diagnosis of specific polysaccharide antibody deficiency (SAD). The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) has proposed guidelines to interpret...

METHODS: In this randomized study, we assigned 340 mothers to receive either inactivated influenza vaccine (influenza-vaccine group) or the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (control group). Mothers were interviewed weekly to assess illnesses until 24 weeks after birth. Subjects with febrile respiratory illness were assessed clinically, and ill infants were tested for influenza anti...

Brucella melitensis Rev 1 is the best vaccine available for the prophylaxis of small ruminant brucellosis and, indirectly, for reducing human brucellosis. However, Rev 1 shows anomalously high rates of spontaneous dissociation from smooth (S) to rough (R) bacteria, the latter being inefficacious as vaccines. This S-R instability results from the loss of the O-polysaccharide. To overcome this pr...