In a context of mistrust vis-à-vis vaccination, some children remain exposed to severe bacterial infections, such as meningitis, with a risk of death and sequelae. However, a study shows that an up-to-date vaccination can significantly reduce the number.
Inserm researchers have shown that 25% of deaths and 25% of serious sequelae in children after a severe bacterial infection such as meningitis could have been avoided by simply applying the vaccination schedule for meningococcus and pneumococcus.
This is a work, carried out in collaboration with city pediatricians in the Grand-Ouest, over a period of 5 years, and published in the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.
Serious bacterial infections in children
Bacterial infections are common and are normally fought off by the immune system. Antibiotics are mainly used to help this defense system which is both natural and educable. But children, especially babies, whose immune systems are less developed, are very vulnerable to certain bacterial infections.
This can lead to severe infections (meningitis, purpura fulminans, septic shock, etc.) which can be responsible for serious sequelae (paralysis, hearing loss, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, etc.) and death.
A French regional prospective study
The study aimed to determine, in children with a severe bacterial infection, the proportion of those that could have been avoided by a complete vaccination received within the time limits of the official recommendations.
All children aged 1 month to 16 years in the French West, admitted to pediatric intensive care or who died before their admission due to a severe bacterial infection, were analyzed prospectively over 5 years (from 2009 to 2014). This is a study coordinated by Inserm and funded by the Ministry of Health.
An infection was considered theoretically preventable by vaccination if the child had an absent or incomplete vaccination and if the bacterial strains identified in his body were targeted by the vaccines recommended at the time of the onset of the infection.
Pneumococci and meningococci are dangerous in children
According to the results of this study, meningococcus and pneumococcus remain the main bacteria causing severe infections in children (65%). They are also responsible for 71% of deaths and almost half of cases of serious sequelae.
Only 39% of children were properly vaccinated against these bacteria and 61% therefore had no or incomplete vaccination. A heartbreak when we know that the anti-pneumococcal and anti-meningococcal C vaccines were introduced in the vaccination schedule in France in 2002 and 2009. In the end, 25% of deaths and 25% of cases of sequelae were preventable by simple application of official vaccination recommendations.
Some of the children remain unprotected
While the main bacteria responsible for these infections can be prevented by vaccines (anti-pneumococcal and anti-meningococcal C vaccines), mistrust of vaccination is now high in France, which often results in lack of complete vaccination in some children and exposes them to these risks of serious sequelae or death.
In France, although vaccination against the two main bacteria responsible for these severe infections has become compulsory for all children born from January 1, 2018 (anti-pneumococcal and anti-meningococcal C vaccines), most deaths linked to meningococcus C occurs in children over 2 years of age who do not have their vaccination status up to date.
These children are not currently affected by the vaccination obligation, and the researchers consider that it is fundamental to apply the current recommendations for catching up to them.
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