Despite concerns about safety and immunogenicity, German researchers have reported that efficacy is high and adverse reactions low with a two-component acellular pertussis vaccine used in preterm infants.
The researchers compared antibody responses and adverse reactions in 46 preterm infants and a control group of 50 term infants at Children's University Hospital in Frankfurt. The infants initially were vaccinated in the second month of life. A second dose was given within the next 8 weeks, and a third within the following 8 weeks. The two-component vaccine contained pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA).
Even though antibody titers were about 50% higher in the term infants, the researchers reported that the preterm infants experienced a 14-fold increase in antibodies to PT and FHA after the third dose of vaccine. They said that an efficient immune response can be assumed after a greater than four-fold increase in antibodies. Adverse . . . [Full Text of this Article]
