Whole Cell Pertussis Vaccine : Reducing Toxicity.
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Date
2011-09
Journal Title
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Abstract
Since introduction of the pertussis vaccine in 1940’s the morbidity and
mortality due to the infection has been markedly reduced all over the
world. However the adverse effects of the inactivated whole cell
pertussis vaccine like pain, swelling at the site of injection, fever,
vomiting anorexia, persistent crying & drowsiness have been the cause
of great concern, till date. Also the safety concerns over the use of
thiomersal as an inactivating agent as well preservative have been raised
in the recent past. Studies in many countries have been initiated to
reduce or replace thiomersal & using other inactivating agents in the
vaccines. Limited studies have been conducted in India. The present
study has been undertaken as an attempt to reduce the quantity of
thiomersal and modification in the procedure of production of the
pertussis vaccine to reduce the toxicity, to produce better quality of
whole cell pertussis vaccine. To achieve this, at the time of production of
the whole cell pertussis vaccine, at Kasauli, as per the standard procedure
recommended by WHO, three parallel batches of the pertussis culture
were inactivated in fermenter before harvesting and thiomersal was
used only one time for suspending the bacterial mass after harvesting.
The resultant modified vaccine so prepared when tested showed that it
was of better quality as compared to the one produced by standard
procedure, when tested in mice.
Description
Keywords
Pertussis vaccine, Toxicity, Thiomersal
Citation
Datta Thakur, Sharma Devender, Gandhoke Inderjeet, Khare Shashi, Bhardwaj Arun. Whole Cell Pertussis Vaccine : Reducing Toxicity. Journal of Communicable Diseases. 2011 Sept; 43(3): 177-181.