| ■ Vaccine cuts child pneumonia hospitalizations | 07.04.11 |
| A new vaccine has slashed pneumonia hospital admissions for U.S. babies and toddlers, according to a study published on Thursday. Hospital admission rates for children under age 2 fell 39 percent by the end of 2004 compared to rates in the years just before the 2000 debut of the Wyeth pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, according to the study in the Lancet medical journal. That decline translates to an estimated 41,000 pneumonia hospitalizations prevented for children under age 2 in 2004, the last year of the study, said Dr. Carlos Grijalva of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, who led the research. The vaccine prevents infection caused by pneumococcal bacteria, which can trigger illnesses including pneumonia, ear infections and meningitis. The researchers also detected a ripple effect of good health, with pneumonia hospitalization rates for adults ages 18 to 39 falling by 26 percent by the end of the study. That translates to an estimated 25,000 such hospitalizations prevented in 2004. They said this decline might be because parents of vaccinated children also escaped infection. The study is the latest to show that the benefits of the vaccine are exceeding expectations. The vaccine, also called PCV7, is marketed under the brand name Prevnar in the United States and Canada and as Prevenar elsewhere in the world. |