Title: Impaired immune response to natural infection as a correlate of vaccine failure in a field trial of killed oral cholera vaccines.

POPLINE Document Number: 108680

Author(s):

Clemens J
Rao M
Sack D
Ahmed F
Khan MR
Chakraborty J
Kay B
Huda S
Yunus M
van Loon F

Source citation:

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, 1995 Oct 1;142(7):759-64.

Abstract:

Natural infections by Vibrio cholerae 01 are known to confer substantial protection against recurrent infections in populations where cholera is endemic. This suggests that it may one day be possible to develop a highly effective oral vaccine against cholera. It is, however, curious that cholera continues to occur into adulthood in populations which have endemic cholera. This phenomenon could be the result of an inability among some individuals in endemic populations to mount suitable immune responses to natural infections. If such immune hyporesponsiveness is truly at work, it may be an important barrier against the development and use of an effective oral cholera vaccine. The authors evaluated whether deficient immune responses to natural infection were associated with the risk of vaccine failure among recipients of killed oral cholera vaccines in a field trial in Bangladesh during 1985. Their findings support the hypothesis that immune hyporesponsiveness, even after the vigorous stimulus of natural infection, may have limited the protection conferred by the vaccines studied in the trial.

Keywords:

Bangladesh
Research Report
Immunity, Active
Immunological Effects
Cholera
Vaccines
Vaccination
Asia, Southern
Asia
Developing Countries
Immunity
Immune System
Physiology
Biology
Bacterial and Fungal Diseases
Infections
Diseases
Immunization
Primary Health Care
Health Services
Delivery of Health Care
Health