LONDON, March 24 (UPI) -- Vaccinating children in developing countries against pneumonia can significantly increase their chance of survival, a British study finds.
Felicity Cutts of the Medical Research Council and the World Health Organization led a team that tested vaccine combinations on infants in The Gambia. One group was given a vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and influenza, while the other was given the same vaccination mixed with a vaccine against streptococcus pneumoniae.
The study found that children given the pneumonia vaccine were significantly less likely to contract the disease. Hospitalizations were reduced by 15 percent, and overall mortality was down 16 percent.
Pneumonia is responsible for 19 percent of childhood deaths around the world. The streptococcus bacterium also causes meningitis and other bloodstream infections and severe middle-ear infections.
The study is reported in the current issue of The Lancet, the leading British medical journal.
