IMMUNIZATION WITH A PNEUMOCOCCAL CAPSULAR POLYSACCHARIDE VACCINE DURING PREGNANCY

The feasibility of preventing invasive pneumococcal infections during the first few months of life by immunization during pregnancy has been investigated. One hundred and fifty Gambian women were immunized with either a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine or a meningoco ccal polysaccharide vaccine during the last trimester of pregnancy. Pr egnant women showed a good antibody response to five of the six pneumo coccal polysaccharides tested (types 1, 3, 5, 6, 14 and 19) but not to type 6 polysaccharide. Mean cord blood/maternal blood IgG antibody ra tios varied from 24% (type 1) to 49% (type 3) and differed substantial ly between individual mother/infant pairs. Pneumococcal antibody level s were higher at birth in infants of women immunized with pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine than in control infants. However, these antibo dies disappeared vapidly during the first few months of life and it is uncertain how much clinical protection against pneumococcal infection maternal immunization would have provided. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevie r Science Ltd.