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Bacteria, polysaccharides, vaccines and boosting: measuring and maintaining population immunity
Correspondence to:
Professor David Goldblatt, Immunobiology Unit, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK; d.goldblatt@ich.ucl.ac.uk
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Bacteria with polysaccharide capsules (such as some members of the Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitides and Streptococcus pneumoniae families) are frequent pathogens in early life, in part due to the inability of the immature immune system to mount a protective immune response. The polysaccharide capsule is both a virulence factor, allowing the organism to evade the binding of potentially lethal complement components and, paradoxically, a target for protective antibody. B cells derived from the immature immune system (below 2 years of age) are unable to make antibodies to native polysaccharides due to reasons not yet fully elucidated. Nasophrayngeal colonisation with encapsulated bacteria is a common feature of early childhood and in the absence of protective immunity may lead to blood borne diseases such as meningitis, local spread causing otitis media or pneumonia, or transmission via nasal secretions to other susceptible individuals.
Efforts to prevent infection with encapsulated bacteria in early childhood
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