Open AccessAntibodies to pneumococcal polysaccharides in pneumonia and response to pneumococcal vaccination in young children in Papua New Guinea
Author(s) -
WITT C. S.,
POMAT W.,
LEHMANN D.,
ALPERS M. P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1991.tb05618.x
Subject(s) - new guinea , immunology , pneumococcal pneumonia , pneumococcal vaccination , vaccination , pneumonia , pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine , streptococcus pneumoniae , medicine , pneumococcal infections , antibody , pneumococcal vaccine , antibody response , biology , pneumococcal disease , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotics , ethnology , history
SUMMARY Antibodies against pneumococcal polysaccharides were measured by ELISA in Papua New Guinean children with pneumonia aged 0–14 months, in age‐matched healthy Papua New Guinean controls and in healthy expatriate children living in Papua New Guinea. At 0–5 months of age, the IgG antibody titres against six of the eight polysaccharides measured were significantly lower in pneumonia patients than in both control groups. Antibody titres in 6–14‐month‐old Papua New Guinean controls were significantly lower than in control Papua New Guineans aged 0–5 months for five of the eight polysaccharides tested. In the 6–14‐months age group the antibody titre was significantly lower in pneumonia patients than in controls for only one polysaccharide. For seven of the eight serotypes tested, antibody levels in expatriate controls did not decline with age. Antibody responses of Papua New Guinean children aged 6–18 months to a 23‐valent pneumococcal vaccine were serotype dependent. Fold increases in response to the vaccine were greatest for the IgA isotype. IgG antibody responses were greater than three fold to four of the eight serotypes tested.