An immunogenic conjugate which is the reductive amination product of an immunogenic capsular polymer fragment having at least one reducing group and derived from a bacterial capsular polymer of a bacterial pathogen, and a bacterial toxin or toxoid. The invention also relates to methods for the preparation of the conjugates, a vaccine containing the conjugates which elicits effective levels of anti-capsular polymer antibodies in humans. Also disclosed are methods for inducing active immunization against systemic infection in young mammals caused by bacterial pathogens comprising the administration of an immunogenic amount of the abovedescribed conjugate. In a preferred embodiment, the capsular polymer fragment prior to conjugation has at least one aldehyde group at each end of the fragment. The final conjugate made with such capsular polymers has a lattice or network structure, and provides extremely high levels of anti-capsular polymer antibodies in infants.
展开▼
