School-Aged Children: A Reservoir for Continued Circulation of Haemophilus influenzae Type b in the United Kingdom

BackgroundA resurgence of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease occurred in the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2003 and was partially attributed to lower immunogenicity of combination vaccines. The reservoir for Hib that led to transmission in this period is unknown MethodsWe estimated the po...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of infectious diseases 2008-05, Vol.197 (9), p.1275-1281
Main Authors:	Oh, S. Y., Griffiths, D., John, T., Lee, Y. C., Yu, L. M., McCarthy, N., Heath, P. T., Crook, D., Ramsay, M., Moxon, E. Richard, Pollard, A. J.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adult Adults Antibodies Antibodies, Bacterial - blood Bacteria Bacteriology Biological and medical sciences Carrier State - immunology Carrier State - microbiology Child Conjugate vaccines Disease Reservoirs Epidemiology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Haemophilus Infections - epidemiology Haemophilus Infections - immunology Haemophilus Infections - microbiology Haemophilus Infections - transmission Haemophilus influenzae type b Haemophilus influenzae type b - immunology Haemophilus influenzae type b - pathogenicity Humans Immunity Infectious diseases Medical sciences Microbiology Miscellaneous Multilocus sequence typing Pharynx - microbiology Preschool children Prevalence School age children United Kingdom Vaccination
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	BackgroundA resurgence of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease occurred in the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2003 and was partially attributed to lower immunogenicity of combination vaccines. The reservoir for Hib that led to transmission in this period is unknown MethodsWe estimated the point prevalence of Hib carriage in school-aged children and adults, using oropharyngeal swabbing and selective media. We characterized the Hib isolates by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and measured Hib antibody concentrations in adults by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ResultsPoint prevalence for Hib carriage in 855 children aged 6–16 years was 4.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.5%–5.9%). Five clonal groups of Hib were identified by MLST, 86% from the lineage of sequence type 6. No Hib was isolated in 385 adults (upper limit of 95% CI, 0.95%). The geometric mean concentration of serum antibody to polyribosylribitol phosphate was 0.47 μg/mL (95% CI, 0.37–0.59 μg/mL) in adults ConclusionsHib carriage is common in school-aged children, who are a significant reservoir for ongoing transmission of Hib to susceptible individuals in the United Kingdom. Surveillance of transmission and immunity across all ages of the population is essential to monitor the evolution of Hib epidemiology
ISSN:	0022-1899 1537-6613