Can We Eliminate Haemophilus Influenzae Type B?

A New Study Confirms the Impact of the Hib Vaccine Around the World

Modern medicine can boast about eliminating diseases through immunizations. The greatest success story was the eradication of smallpox form the face of the earth in the late 1970s. Then, when polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere, the World Health Organization (WHO) embarked on a mission to eliminate it from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this goal has not been achieved yet.

Public health experts think that after polio is eliminated, the next target could be measles. Meanwhile, routine immunization has put under control many devastating diseases of the past. One example is the disease caused by the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), which infects the outer lining of the brain causing meningitis.

Invasive Hib disease is most common among children under five years of age and can lead to pneumonia, severe throat swelling and infections of blood, bones, joints, and the covering of the heart. Even with antibiotic treatment, about 5% of children (500 out of every 10,000) with Hib meningitis die. Hib kills 400,000 children in the world every year.

The first Hib vaccine was licensed in 1985. Before then, there were 20,000 cases of Hib disease every year in the United States (including 12,000 cases of meningitis and 7,500 cases of pneumonia). The number of cases began to drop dramatically after the introduction of the vaccine: only 34 cases were reported in 2002.

Consider the impact of the Hib vaccine in other countries:

•United Kingdom, 87% decrease in the number of cases
•Chile, 90% decrease
•The Gambia, 100% decrease

A new study published in the August 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows a similar impact in Kenya.*

Hib routine immunization was introduced in Kenya in 2001. This was possible through the financial support of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). To be eligible for GAVI's support, the country's per capita gross domestic product should be less than $1,000. Currently, GAVI supports 11 African nations.