Health Experts Call on Global Leaders to Ensure Access to Life-Saving Pneumococcal Vaccines Jun 10, 2008
"In Kenya alone, we lose more than 20,000 children under age five each year to pneumococcal disease," said Dr. Fred Were, chairman of the Kenya Paediatric Association and member of PACE. "Current and future vaccines could potentially prevent 50 to 80 percent of these deaths. I'm proud that Kenya has made the decision to introduce this vaccine and to protect the lives and health of Kenyan children." Pneumococcal vaccines have been available since 2000 to safely and effectively protect children... (Canada Newswire)
Timely shots May 14, 2008
Keep pneumococcal infections in check with vaccinations at the right time and dosage ... The increasing resistance of the pneumococcus to antibiotics underscores the need to prevent pneumococcal infections with vaccines ... The 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine provides coverage against 85 to 90% of the serotypes that cause invasive pneumococcal infections. (The Star Online, Malaysia -- News)
Alternative Medicine Fans More Likely to Get Shots Mar 18, 2008
Among 30,617 adults participating in the 2002 National Health Interview Survey, the 36 percent who said they had used complementary or alternative medicines (CAM) recently were more likely to have received shots for preventing the flu, pneumococcal infections and hepatitis B.. Nevertheless, most people the CDC considers "priority" recipients for the flu and pneumococcal vaccines because of a high-risk condition didn't get them, Dr. Shannon Stokley of the CDC's National Center for Immunization... (MEDLINEplus)
How Antibiotic Resistant Bugs Became Resistant To Penicillin, And How Penicillin Could Work Again Mar 16, 2008
The researchers targeted a protein called MurM that is essential for clinically observed penicillin resistance and has also been linked to changes in the chemical make up of the peptidoglycan that appear in penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from patients with pneumococcal infections. The researchers found that MurM acted as an enzyme that was key to the formation of particular structures within the S. pneumoniae peptidoglycan called dipeptide bridges that link together... (Science Daily)
FOCUS: GlaxoSmithKline's Rotarix Set To Reach Key US Market Feb 22, 2008
After years of stagnation, the market for children and adolescent vaccines is enjoying a renaissance with the launch of premium price vaccines like Wyeth's multibillion-dollar selling Prevnar for pneumococcal infections and Merck's Gardasil, a potential blockbuster product that prevents cervical cancer. Briefing document published ahead of the FDA meeting highlighted concerns a potentially fatal increase in the risk of pneumonia and convulsion in children vaccinated with Rotarix. (CNNMoney.com)
Ear Infections Linked to Drug-Resistant 'Superbug' Oct 18, 2007
Pneumococcal infections are caused by S. pneumoniae, and can include ear infections, sinus infections, pneumonia, meningitis and bloodstream infections ... Young children are most susceptible to pneumococcal infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ... However, pneumococcal infections cause more than 3 million ear infections each year, according to the CDC.. (MEDLINEplus)
Bleeding, not inflammation, is major cause of early lung infection death Aug 28, 2007
Despite vaccine, one million children still die of pneumococcal infections ... The picture remains far more serious outside of the United States, however, where pneumococcal infections take the lives of at least one million children each year, according to the World Health Organization. (EurekAlert!)
Underinsured Children Shut Out from Recommended Vaccines Aug 9, 2007
BOSTON, Aug. 7 -- Children by the millions may not be protected against meningococcal or pneumococcal infections because private insurance plans and state and federal governments have gaps in their coverage of the vaccines. Action Points. (MedPage Today)
Serious illness among children with sickle cell disease reduced with vaccine May 2, 2007
This study shows that rates of serious pneumococcal infections fell by 90 percent after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in 2000. . (EurekAlert!)
Pneumococcal Strains Not Covered by Vaccine on the Rise Apr 26, 2007
Read more about pneumococcal infections at the. More On This Topic. (Forbes)
Pneumococcal Infections Are Increasing, And Not Covered By Childhood Vaccine Apr 25, 2007
Alaska Native children are experiencing increased rates of serious infections caused by strains of pneumococcal bacteria that are not covered by the current childhood pneumococcal vaccine, indicating the importance of ongoing surveillance of vaccine effectiveness, according to a study in the April 25 issue of JAMA.. Before introduction of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), Alaska Native children and adults experienced high rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) compared with... (Science Daily)
Vaccine is futile vs. new strains Apr 25, 2007
The CDC's Dr. Rosalyn Singleton and colleagues studied pneumococcal infections such as pneumonia, meningitis, or blood infections known as bacteremia that occurred from 1995 to 2006. They found that in the three years after the introduction of Prevnar, from 2001 through 2003, these diseases fell by 67 percent among native Alaskan children younger than age 2 and 61 percent in non-native children. (Boston Globe)
Vaccine cuts child pneumonia hospitalizations Apr 6, 2007
Pneumococcal infections can be hard to treat because the bacteria have become resistant to some of the drugs used for treatment, making prevention even more important, the CDC said. Free Newsletters. (Scientific American)
Pneumococcal Vaccine Beyond Expectations Apr 4, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007. CHICAGO (Reuters) - A vaccine to fight common bacterial diseases has produced significant and unexpected drops in repeat ear infections and the need for inserted ear tubes in children since its U.S. introduction in 2000, researchers reported on Monday. (MEDLINEplus)
Wyeth's pneumococcal vaccine beats promise, study says Apr 3, 2007
The vaccination, given initially at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, was designed to combat a number of pneumococcal infections, including ear infections that most children have at least once by the time they turn 2 years old. But Poehling said the new research shows that the vaccine also was preventing repeat infections, which occur three or four times a year in up to nearly a third of all children, often requiring the insertion of ear tubes to equalize pressure. (San Diego Union-Tribune -- Business)
Pneumococcal vaccine beyond expectations: study Apr 2, 2007
ADVERTISEMENT (article continues below) The vaccination, given initially at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, was designed to combat a number of pneumococcal infections, including ear infections that most children have at least once by the time they turn 2 years old. But Poehling said the new research shows that the vaccine was also preventing repeat infections, which occur three or four times a year in up to nearly a third of all children, often requiring the insertion of ear tubes to equalize... (Scientific American)
Robert Austrian, 90; research led to pneumonia vaccine Apr 1, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Robert Austrian, an academic physician whose pioneering research led to the development of a vaccine to prevent and treat pneumonia, meningitis, and other deadly pneumococcal infections, died last Sunday of a stroke at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia ... He concluded that of the 83 known types of pneumococci -- now more than 90 -- 14 were responsible for 80 percent of all pneumococcal infections ... He received a bachelor's degree in 1937 and a... (Boston Globe)
Meningitis: What you need to know? Jan 6, 2007
There is a newly licensed vaccine (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) that appears to be effective in infants for the prevention of pneumococcal infections and is routinely recommended for all children greater than 2 years of age. Share this article on. (Food Consumer)
Health chiefs urge diseases jab Aug 29, 2006
Up to 50 children aged under two in Wales and England die from pneumococcal infections each year ... "Approximately 5,000 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease occur in Wales and England each year, around 530 of these in children under two and about a third are cases of pneumococcal meningitis. "Estimates vary but as many as 50 children under two lose their lives from serious pneumococcal infections in Wales and England each year. (BBC News)
Potential Consequences of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Jul 6, 2006
To the Editor: Aristotle proclaimed more than 2300 years ago that "nature abhors a vacuum." This dictum seems to be confirmed by the study by Kyaw et al. (April 6 issue)1 showing that the rate of antibiotic-resistant invasive pneumococcal infections decreased in young children and older persons after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, at the expense of an increase in infections caused by serotypes not included in the vaccine (so-called replacement types). In addition, other... (New England Journal of Medicine)
Pneumonia Vaccine Has Lowered Drug Resistant Pneumonia Apr 7, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young children and older adults have shown decreasing rates of drug-resistant pneumococcal infections ... Rates of multiple drug-resistant pneumococcal infections peaked at 4. (MEDLINEplus)
Children to be given new vaccine Feb 9, 2006
Up to 50 children under two are thought to die in England and Wales a year from serious pneumococcal infections. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the new vaccine would save lives and prevent hundreds of serious illnesses in the young and old. (BBC News)
