influenzae type b (
Hib) vaccine supplies were severely reduced almost 2 years ago when Merck & Co.
Among infants and young children, Haemophilus influenzae type b (
Hib) is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis deaths and the second leading cause of bacterial pneumonia deaths worldwide and accounts for approximately 400,000 deaths of children each year (1,2).
The protection is being offered after a slight rise in the cases of haemophilius influenzae type b - or
Hib - which can cause a number of serious illnesses, including meningitis.
From 1998 to 2000, rates of invasive
Hib disease among children less than 5 years of age ranged from 0 to 2.1 per 100,000 in all the states but Alaska.
Production of Merck
Hib vaccine products is still suspended.
Conjugate vaccines are a major advance in the control of diseases caused by two members of the normal bacterial flora of the human nasopharynx, Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (
Hib).
Brian Wahl, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, and colleagues prepared global, regional, and national disease burden estimates for PCV and
Hib pathogens in children from 2000 to 2015.
On June 14, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration licensed Hib-MenCY-TT for the prevention of invasive
Hib and serogroups C and Y meningococcal disease in children aged 6 weeks through 18 months (3).
The monovalent
Hib vaccine is Hiberix (Haemophilus b conjugate vaccine [tetanus toxoid conjugate]), which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, was first marketed in Germany in 1996, and is now available in almost 100 countries.