The first field trial of a new typhoid vaccine that can be used in young children provides protection for 81.6 per cent of recipients, opening the door to better control of a disease that affects 11 million people each year and kills roughly 117,000. The test in Nepal “provides the first evidence of the level of impact and the potential for improving the health of children in some of these very vulnerable populations around the world,” lead author Andrew Pollard of Oxford University in the UK told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. Preventing typhoid has become particularly important because some strains, particularly in South Asia, are becoming resistant to antibiotics.
Pakistan is currently in the midst of an antibiotic-resistant typhoid outbreak. There are two existing typhoid vaccines. One comes in a capsule that is too large for younger children to swallow, so it is for youngsters over age 6. The other, delivered as an injection, don’t work in children under age 2. As a result, people from Western countries who have young children and travel to parts of the world where typhoid is a threat have to be particularly vigilant to make sure their children drink water that is properly boiled or filtered, and their food is properly prepared, Pollard said.
The new test, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved children as young as 9 months. They will be followed for another year in an attempt to determine how long the vaccine protects against typhoid, a bacterial infection often spread through contaminated water in regions of the world with poor sanitation. Untreated, the disease can leave people sick for weeks or months. Children are particularly vulnerable.
