Studies of a typhoid vaccine in Kolkata, India have shown promising results in protecting children from the disease, researchers reported on Thursday.
The non-profit International Vaccine Institute (IVI) conducted the study alongside the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) in Kolkata.
Writing in the July 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that the Vi polysaccharide vaccine may provide adequate protection against typhoid fever among pre-school age children.
The Vi vaccines are more ideal for the conditions of developing countries because at a cost of about $0.05 per dose, they are affordable for large-scale deployment.
Typhoid accounts for the most illnesses and deaths in developing countries. The disease is estimated to kill 216,000 to 600,000 people annually. Additionally, multidrug-resistant Salmonella typhi has spread to many parts of the world, limiting the ability to treat typhoid fever with available antibiotics, said researchers.
The World Health Organization has recommended the use of Vi vaccines in developing countries, but many have doubted its ability to protect pre-school age children, so its use has not been widespread. Pre-school age children are the most susceptible to typhoid fever.
The IVI and NICED studied the vaccine among 37,673 villagers in Kolkata. Participants either received the Vi vaccine or an inactivated hepatitis A vaccine. Each of the participants was monitored for two years.
Researchers found that the vaccine was 61 percent effective in preventing typhoid, and that rate was nearly 80 percent in young children who received the vaccine.
“The protection for children under the age of five years is important because this age group has been shown to be at high risk for typhoid fever in many areas where the disease is epidemic,” IVI director-general John Clemens said in the statement.
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