HAEMOPHILUS-INFLUENZAE - CAPSULE VACCINE AND CAPSULATION GENETICS

In 1931, Dr Margaret Pittman reported her discovery that Haemophilus i nfluenzae strains responsible for meningitis had a polysaccharide caps ule, and that one capsular type, serotype b, was responsible for nearl y all cases, Diverse programmes of research aimed at understanding and exploiting this seminal observation culminated, in the 1980s, in the introduction of a purified type b polysaccharide vaccine to protect ch ildren against this terrible disease, Subsequent improvements in vacci ne immunogenicity have translated into impressive efficacy and the sug gestion that, were all children to be immunized, a major cause of life -threatening childhood infection might be vanquished.