Vaccine ‘Causing’ Deadly Pneumonia Increase

April 15, 2008

Vaccine `Causing' Deadly Pneumonia Increase

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LONDON, April 14: Cases of a life-threatening form of pneumonia that

affects the young are rising rapidly in Britain. It now affects around

1,000 children a year. The cause of the increase is unknown but

experts fear a vaccine in the immunisation programme could be

contributing. This severe pneumonia infects the lining of the lungs

called the pleura, making it hard to breathe. It requires hospital

admission to drain the chest cavity. The children affected are

frightened and in pain and many undergo surgery to scrape out the

contents of the pleura ~ a process called surgical debridement. Child

health specialists say cases of the pneumonia, known as serotype 1,

have risen tenfold in a decade. They warn that a vaccine against

pneumococcal disease called Prevenar, introduced in 2006, could be

fuelling the rise.

The vaccine is given at two, four and 13 months and provides

protection against seven of the commonest types of pneumonia. It is

safe and highly effective ~ cases of invasive pneumococcal disease

caused by the serotypes covered by the vaccine have fallen by 90 per

cent in two years. But there are more than 90 known strains of the

bacterium that causes pneumonia. When one is eliminated, it creates an

opportunity for another to take its place. In the US, where Prevenar

was introduced in 2000, researchers have reported an emergence of

" sero-replacement " disease ~ types of pneumonia not covered by the

vaccine.

Dr Spencer, at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, will present

figures on the growth in pneumococcal disease to the Royal College of

Paediatrics annual conference in York today. " It looks as if serotype

one is becoming more virulent, " he said. " We have had four cases in

the past week in Newcastle with empyema (the accumulation of septic

fluid in the pleural cavity). These children are seriously ill and

suffer a lot of pain. "

~ The Independent

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