Routine childhood immunization yields impressive results
Posted Feb 19, 2013 11:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Researchers in Calgary report seven strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae have been wiped out in children under the age of 5 and nearly eliminated in all other age groups, making our city one of the first in the world to record these results.
Streptococcus pneumoniae can cause serious infections known as Invasive Pneumococcal Disease or IPD.
Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Otto Vanderkooi tells 660News, their research group looked at all cases of IPD over the last decade and after introducing the Prevnar vaccine which protects against 7 types of Streptococcus pneumoniae, they saw near elimination in all age groups of the disease and also saw an 80% reduction in all cases of disease.
In 2002, Alberta became the first province in Canada to introduce the Prevnar vaccine.
Vanderkooi says by immunizing children against this important disease that causes meningitis, blood stream infections and more common but less severe ear infections, pneumonia and sinus infections, it protected those children but also protected their siblings, their parents and grandparents because of reduced numbers of organisms in the community.
He adds, Streptococcus pneumoniae continues to cause a million deaths around the world each year.
