A booster shot against whooping cough, or pertussis, appears well tolerated in adolescents who have previously been given five doses of acellular pertussis-containing vaccine.
December 23, 2006 (Press Release) --
A booster shot against whooping cough, or pertussis, using a low-dose tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine, appears well tolerated in adolescents who have previously been given five doses of acellular pertussis-containing vaccine, according to German and US researchers.
Previously, vaccination against pertussis was not recommended for those over 6 years of age, Dr. Fred Zepp of Johannes-Gutenberg-University, Mainz and colleagues note in the Journal of Pediatrics. This was because of concerns about bad reactions to the whole-cell whooping cough vaccines.
The advent of reduced-antigen cell-free (acellular) pertussis vaccines offered the opportunity to extend pertussis prevention to older patients, and this is now recommended.
To investigate the safety of this strategy, the team studied 219 adolescents previously given five vaccinations containing the acellular pertussis component.
After they received the Tdap booster, the teens often reported a certain amount of pain, redness, and swelling -- but considerable swelling was seen in only three subjects.
"These results," say the investigators, "suggest that Tdap is well tolerated as a sixth consecutive dose of acellular pertussis-containing vaccine."
Dr. Scott Halperin of Dalhousie University, Halifax, author of an accompanying editorial, commented to Reuters Health, "This is reassuring for the future, as over time, all of the children in North America will be in this situation."
source: http://health.yahoo.com/
Previously, vaccination against pertussis was not recommended for those over 6 years of age, Dr. Fred Zepp of Johannes-Gutenberg-University, Mainz and colleagues note in the Journal of Pediatrics. This was because of concerns about bad reactions to the whole-cell whooping cough vaccines.
The advent of reduced-antigen cell-free (acellular) pertussis vaccines offered the opportunity to extend pertussis prevention to older patients, and this is now recommended.
To investigate the safety of this strategy, the team studied 219 adolescents previously given five vaccinations containing the acellular pertussis component.
After they received the Tdap booster, the teens often reported a certain amount of pain, redness, and swelling -- but considerable swelling was seen in only three subjects.
"These results," say the investigators, "suggest that Tdap is well tolerated as a sixth consecutive dose of acellular pertussis-containing vaccine."
Dr. Scott Halperin of Dalhousie University, Halifax, author of an accompanying editorial, commented to Reuters Health, "This is reassuring for the future, as over time, all of the children in North America will be in this situation."
source: http://health.yahoo.com/
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