Virulent strain of strep eludes vaccine

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Virulent strain of strep eludes vaccine

A highly drug-resistant germ has become a common cause of meningitis,

pneumonia and other life-threatening conditions in young children. The

culprit - a strain of strep bacteria - can conquer almost all

antibiotics in pediatrics, and has dodged a vaccine otherwise credited

with causing the number of serious infections in children to plummet.

Since 2000, American toddlers have been immunized against

Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, an organism that preys

largely on children younger than 5 and the elderly.

Worldwide the vaccine is gaining wider use. It has been recommended by

the World Health Organization, which estimated in 2005 that 1.6

million deaths were being caused by pneumococcus annually.

Pneumococcal meningitis can be fatal, and survivors are often left

with deafness and other lifelong neurological problems.

In the United States, by most measures, the vaccine has worked: by

2002, rates of infection from these bacteria had dropped as much as 80

percent in some places. But progress has now stalled, and infection

with a particular type of pneumococcus, Serotype 19A, is steadily

rising...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/16/healthscience/snstrep.php