Pharmaceuticals公司的肺炎疫苗减少儿童死亡率

一项为期4年的临床试验涉及了冈比亚17000例儿童，结果显示给婴儿接种对抗肺炎链球菌的疫苗能够大大减少发展中国家儿童死亡与严重疾病。

该项研究的目的是探讨在南部非洲城市内能够预防肺炎发生的疫苗，是否同样能够在非洲农村地区环境中发挥作用。研究结果显示疫苗接种将儿童死亡率降低了16％。这是最近20年来第一项随机、对照的疫苗临床试验，在降低儿童总体死亡率方面显示出统计学差异。

这项临床试验的其它结果发现，疫苗接种显著降低了住院治疗的需求。9价肺炎共轭疫苗预防由疫苗血清型导致的肺炎感染有效率为77％。总计有37％不到的儿童肺炎病例接受了疫苗接种。这种疫苗是由Pharmaceuticals 公司(Collegeville, PA, USA)提供的。

该项临床试验的参与者和资助者包括：英国医学研究委员会、伦敦卫生与热带病医学学校（London, UK）；世界卫生组织(WHO, Geneva, Switzerland)；美国国际发展局(USAID, Washington, DC, USA)。
 
Pneumonia Vaccination Reduces Child Mortality
 
A four-year study involving more than 17,000 children in The Gambia shows that vaccinating infants against Streptococcus pneumoniae could greatly reduce death and serious illness among children in the developing world.

The study’s purpose was to find out whether a vaccine shown to prevent pneumococcal disease in urban South Africa would also work in the challenging environment of rural Africa. The results revealed that the vaccine reduced childhood mortality by 16% in children. This is the first major randomized, controlled vaccine clinical trial in nearly 20 years to show a statistically significant reduction in overall child mortality.

Other findings of the trial were that the vaccine significantly reduced the need for hospitalization. The nine-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was 77% effective in preventing pneumococcal infections caused by the vaccine serotypes. As a result, there were 37% fewer cases of pneumonia in the children who received the vaccine. The vaccine was provided by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (Collegeville, PA, USA).

Participants and sponsors of the trial include the British Medical Research Council and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (both in London, UK); the World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland); and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID, Washington, DC, USA).