Tested in Laos, the PCV13 vaccine protects against 13 types of pneumococci.
November 12 has been declared World Pneumonia Day by the World Health Organization. According to Unicef, it is the deadliest disease for children. It kills a child under the age of 5 every 39 seconds in the world. Vaccination is one of the main means of prevention. In Laos, researchers have found that one of the vaccines available can reduce the severity of pneumonia.
Numerous hospitalizations
The study was carried out by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), the University of Melbourne and researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. They found that in Laos, pneumonia is the leading cause of children being admitted to hospital. According to Fiona Russell, professor at MCRI, the vaccine protects many children from death by pneumonia in the country. In 2013, the Lao government added the PCV13 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to the national immunization program. This product helps protect the body against 13 different pneumococci.
Bacteria present in the nose
Researchers have found that the bacterium that causes pneumonia is usually present in the back of children’s noses. “Our team took samples of pneumococci from the noses of healthy children and children with pneumonia, explains the scientist, while most children who had pneumococci had no symptoms, for part of the children, the bacteria would travel to the lungs or into the bloodstream, which can cause infections and even death.” The researchers found that the vaccine reduced the risk of severe pneumonia by 35%.
New trials in progress
Researchers are using the same method to assess vaccine effectiveness in Papua New Guinea and Mongolia. “We hope that this technique can be used in other countries to show the interest of this vaccine”, concludes Fiona Russell. The disease does not strike all states equally. Of the 800,000 children under the age of 5 who died pneumonia in 2018, half lived in one of the following 5 countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. As a reminder, pneumonia kills an average child every 39 seconds worldwide.
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