PEDIATRICS Vol. 85 No. 4 April 1990, pp. 662-666
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Santosham, M.
Right arrow Articles by Siber, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Santosham, M.
Right arrow Articles by Siber, G.

Passive Immunization for Infection With Haemophilus influenzae Type b

Mathuram Santosham MD1, Ray Reid MD1, G. William Letson MD1, Mark C. Wolff PhD1, and George Siber MD1

1 From the Division of Geographic Medicine, Department of International Health, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, the Division of Infectious Disease of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, and the Biologic Laboratories of the Massachusetts Center for Disease Control, Boston, Massachusetts

Haemophilus influenzae type b is the leading cause of meningitis in children younger than 5 years of age in the United States.1 The incidence of infection with H influenzae type b in certain populations, such as Apache and Navajo Indians and Alaskan Eskimos, is 10 to 20 times higher than in the general US population.2-4 Another important feature of H influenzae type b infections in these populations is that more than 80% of the cases occur during the first year of life, with 35% to 45% occurring during the first 6 months.

One of the currently licensed vaccines that contains the capsular polysaccharide of the H influenzae type b organism is not reliably immunogenic in infants younger than 18 months of age.5,6 A number of new H influenzae type b vaccines prepared by covalently coupling the H influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide with a protein carrier antigen are undergoing clinical evaluation.7-13 One of these conjugate vaccines was shown to be efficacious in preventing disease caused by H influenzae type b in Finnish infants when they were immunized at 3, 4, and 6 months of age.14 Unfortunately, in a recently concluded trial, the same vaccine was not found to be efficacious in preventing such disease in infants younger than 1 year of age among the Alaskan Eskimo population.15

We have evaluated an alternative approach for protecting high-risk infants. A human hyperimmune globulin called bacterial polysaccharide immune globulin (BPIG) was prepared from the pooled plasma of adult blood donors immunized with H influenzae type b, pneumococcal, and meningococcal capsular polysaccharide.16