PNEUMOCOCCAL ANTIBODY-RESPONSES IN ELITE SWIMMERS

The ability of elite swimmers to mount an antibody response to the pne umococcal vaccine, Pneumovax 23, was assessed at the end of an intensi ve 12-week training programme. Antibody titres to six pneumococcal pol ysaccharide types were measured in 20 elite swimmers (10 male, 10 fema le) aged 17-23 years and 19 sedentary age- and sex-matched students (e ight male, 11 female) aged 18-23 years. Blood samples were tested 14 d ays apart to assess the magnitude of the antibody response and changes in serum immunoglobulin isotypes and IgG subclasses. There were no si gnificant differences in any of the pneumococcal antibody responses to the Pneumovax between swimmers and controls, and no gender effect, ei ther before or after vaccination. The clinically adequate response to the vaccine was greatest for the pneumococcal serotype 4, which was 97 % for the total study population. There were no significant correlatio ns between the magnitude of any of the pneumococcal antibody responses and (i) changes in the scores for the swimmers' international perform ance; (ii) infection rates in either swimmers or controls; (iii) any p sychological variables, assessed by the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire for either swimmers or controls. Swimmers had significan tly lower concentrations of serum IgG2 (P = 0.04) and IgG3 (P = 0.002) before pneumococcal vaccination. The swimmers had an increase in all immunoglobulin isotypes and IgG subclasses post-vaccination, suggestin g a polyclonal response to the vaccine that was not observed in contro l subjects. The magnitude of the subclass responses after vaccination was significantly greater in swimmers compared with controls for IgG1 (P = 0.04), IgG3 (P = 0.04) and IgG4 (P = 0.01). The data indicated th at elite swimmers undertaking an intensive training programme were cap able of mounting an antibody response to pneumococcal antigens equival ent to that of age- and sex-matched sedentary control subjects, despit e the swimmers having lower prevaccination levels of serum immunoglobu lins.