Infections Caused by Haemophilus influenzae Type b
The Beginning of the End?
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
Infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) have been a deadly scourge of children for many years. Until recently Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in the United States (most of which occurred in children less than 2 years of age).1Haemophilus influenzae type b has been responsible for death or severe permanent neurologic damage in tens of thousands of children in the United States and throughout the world.1,2 The morbidity and mortality of Hib infections in the United States in the early 1980s were comparable to the morbidity and mortality of poliomyelitis during the great polio epidemics of the 1950s.3 Three articles in the current issue of The Journal report that in recent years the incidence of Hib infections in the United States has fallen by 85% to 90%.4-6 Is this occurring throughout the
See also pp 221, 227, and 246.
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. New Haven, CT 06510-8064 (Dr Shapiro).
