Pneumococcal vaccine could prevent leading worldwide cause of childhood death.(Brief Article)

2002 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a recent clinical trial conducted in 40,000 children in Soweto, South Africa, scientists from Emory University and the University of Witwatersrand found that a new version of a pneumococcal vaccine reduced the incidence of pneumonia in vaccinated children by more than 20%.

In addition, the vaccine reduced the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease - pneumococcal bacteria that can be measured in the bloodstream - by more than 80% in these children not infected with the HIV virus and by more than 50% in HIV-infected children.

The study was conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medical Research Council of South Africa in collaboration with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which developed the vaccine. Keith P. Klugman, MD, professor of international health in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health and professor of medicine in Emory School of Medicine, was principal investigator of the study.

According to WHO, pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children worldwide and is responsible for approximately 4 million deaths a year. Most of these deaths occur in developing countries. Although pneumonia has many causes, the Pneumococcus bacterium is the primary cause. Until recently, no vaccine was available to prevent pneumococcal disease in young children. In addition to ...