Work

Effectiveness of rBS/WC cholera vaccine against bacterial infectious diarrhea: A test-negative study on children aged 2–6 years in Guangzhou China

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Recombinant B-subunit/Whole Cell Cholera Vaccine (rBS/WC) represents a new and effective way to protect against and control diarrhea. A test-negative case-control study was conducted to investigate the cross-protective effect of cholera vaccine immunization against bacterial infectious diarrhea in a real-world setting. METHODS: Using a test-negative design, children aged 2-6 years with infectious diarrhea in Guangzhou City were selected as study subjects. A 1:4 propensity score matching based on the basic characteristics of the included study subjects, and vaccine effects were calculated after correcting for confounders. RESULTS: A total of 2796 children with laboratory-confirmed infectious diarrhea were enrolled in the study, and 316 pairs were successfully enrolled in the matching after Propensity Score Matching(PSM), totaling 1306. By conditional logistic regression analysis, The results showed that the total protective effect of ≥1 dose of rBS/WC vaccine against bacterial infectious diarrhea in children aged 2-6 years was 57.7 % (95 % CI: 30.3-74.3); the rBS/WC vaccine had the best protective effect of 74.8 % (95 % CI: 16.8-95.6) within 6 months of vaccination and then showed a decreasing trend. The vaccine's protective effect was 54.6 % (95 % CI: 22.1-73.5) against Salmonella and 69.2 % (95 % CI: -133.7-95.9) against Escherichia coli. Stratified analyses revealed higher point estimates of the protective effect obtained by vaccination among healthy children with good hygiene. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the idea that the rBS/WC vaccination program is effective in the real world in preventing bacterial diarrhea in children. For people who are susceptible to bacterial diarrhea, the cholera vaccine is a good preventive option.

Source: Vaccine

DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.127139