Surveillance of Pneumococcal Infection for Field Trials of Polyvalent Pneumococcal Vaccines

摘要

This report summarizes the work resulting in the licensure of a 14-valent vaccine of pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides for the prevention of pneumococcal infection in man. It contains data on the prevalence of pneumococcal capsular types causing pneumonia, meningitis and otitis media in the U.S.A., levels of antibodies resulting from immunization of volunteers with the capsular polysaccharides of 15 pneumococcal types administered in several doses and in monovalent or in polyvalent formulations, the reactions resulting from injection of monovalent and of polyvalent vaccines and the efficacy of the vaccine in the prevention of pneumococcal infection of the respiratory tract and of pneumococcal bacteremia. The vaccines have been shown to be safe and 80 per cent effective in preventing those pneumococcal infections caused by types the capsular antigens of which are included in the vaccine in three field trials, one involving 1300 subjects in a hospitalized population, a second including 13,600 members of an American prepaid health plan over the age of 44 years and a third involving 12,000 novice gold miners in South Africa.