Work

Group A Antibody Persistence Five Years After Meningococcal Polysaccharide Vaccination in the Sudan

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: Large meningococcal group A epidemics occur periodically in the Sudan, a country within the "meningitis belt" of Sub-Saharan Africa. Immunization with meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine induces protective serum bactericidal titers but little information is available on the duration of protection. Serum samples were obtained from 20 subjects, aged 11-47 years, who resided in the Sudan, and who had participated in a meningococcal polysaccharide immunogenicity study five years earlier. Persistence of serum group A bactericidal titers (measured with human complement) was compared to that of 12 immunized adults in North America with no known exposure to group A organisms. One month after vaccination, there were no significant differences in the serum bactericidal titers of the two groups. By five years the respective reciprocal geometric mean bactericidal titers had declined in both groups (82 to 34 in Sudanese, and 69-11 in North Americans, p < or = 0.03). However, the proportion of sera with protective bactericidal titers (> or =1:4) at five years was higher in the Sudanese than North Americans (80% vs. 42%, p < or = 0.05). Recommendations for periodic meningococcal polysaccharide vaccination every 3-5 years to maintain group A immunity may be more appropriate for persons living outside of endemic areas than for persons residing in endemic regions since immunity in endemic areas can be maintained by periodic exposure to group A organisms, even during periods between epidemics.

Source: Human Vaccines

DOI: 10.4161/hv.3.4.4308

Authors: Becca A. Flitter, Adil Ismail, David Vu, Dan M. Granoff

Institution: Federal Ministry of Health

Language: English

Topic: Bacterial Infections and Vaccines

Subfield: Microbiology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Center for Research Resources