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Three fatal pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine failures
Author(s) -
Hanna Jeffrey N,
Wenck Drew J,
Murphy Denise N
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2000.tb125662.x
Subject(s) - serotype , pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine , pneumococcal vaccine , vaccination , pneumococcal disease , medicine , pneumococcal vaccination , vaccine failure , pneumococcal infections , streptococcus pneumoniae , immunology , indigenous , virology , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , measles , ecology , antibiotics
Three Indigenous Australian adults died of invasive pneumococcal disease, despite vaccination with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine an average of 18 months previously. Pneumococcal isolates from the patients had serotypes that are included in the vaccine. Two of the adults were alcoholics and the other had heavy recent alcohol intake. The public health implications, and possible optimal vaccination schedules to minimise vaccine failures, are discussed.