TY - JOUR AU - Johnson, Nik AU - Ruggeberg, Jens AU - Balfour, Gail AU - Lee, Y. Chen AU - Liddy, Helen AU - Irving, Diane AU - Sheldon, Joanna AU - Slack, Mary P.E. AU - Pollard, Andrew AU - Heath, Paul T1 - Haemophilus influenzae Type b Reemergence after Combination Immunization T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2006 VL - 12 IS - 6 SP - 937 SN - 1080-6059 AB - An increase in Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in British children has been linked to the widespread use of a diphtheria/tetanus/acellular pertussis combination vaccine (DTaP-Hib). We measured anti-polyribosyl-ribitol phosphate antibody concentration and avidity before and after a Hib booster in 176 children 2–4 years of age who had received 3 doses of DTP-Hib (either DT whole cell pertussis-Hib or DTaP-Hib) combination vaccine in infancy. We also measured pharyngeal carriage of Hib. Antibody concentrations before and avidity indices after vaccination were low (geometric mean concentration 0.46 μg/mL, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.36–0.58; geometric mean avidity index 0.16, 95% CI 0.14–0.18) and inversely related to the number of previous doses of DTaP-Hib (p = 0.02 and p<0.001, respectively). Hib was found in 2.1% (95% CI 0.7%–6.0%) of study participants. Our data support an association between DTaP-Hib vaccine combinations and clinical Hib disease through an effect on antibody concentration and avidity. KW - Haemophilus influenzae type b KW - haemophilus vaccines KW - antibody avidity KW - diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccines KW - antibodies KW - carrier state/epidemiology KW - research KW - United Kingdom DO - 10.3201/eid1206.051451 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/6/05-1451_article ER - End of Reference