[Serological evaluation of an antimeningococcal mass vaccination campaign in Niger].

Authors searched by mean of radio-immuno-essay A and C anti-meningococcal antibodies in two villages from Niger (181 and 92 patients) in a meningitidis endemic area, which one profited 10 months ago of a mass vaccination campaign (A and C polysaccharides). A and C antibodies quantities and percentages of protected patients are not significantly different between the two villages. In one hand anti-C levels increase with patients age.

[20 years' use of the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine].

Between 1966 and 1982, a triple DPT vaccine was studied in France in 1,871 infants between the ages of 3 and 5 months. The study covered tolerance and serological efficacy of two immunization schedules using 2 or 3 initial injections. Computerized analysis of the 877 complete files showed satisfactory tolerance of this association and the serological efficacy of 2 initial doses of tetanus and diphtheria vaccines.

Antibodies to meningococcus polysaccharides in nonspecific gamma-globulins from different regions of the world.

Seventy-one batches of nonspecific gamma-globulin obtained from France, USSR and Mongolia were studied for presence of specific antibody to group A and C meningococcus polysaccharide. Specific activity was tested by two methods: radioimmunoassay (Lyon) and reaction of passive haemagglutination inhibition (Moscow). Antibodies were detected in all the gamma-globulin batches tested, in some of them at high titres.

Intradermal immunization with rabies vaccine. Inactivated Wistar strain cultivated in human diploid cells.

We report a comparative study of the Mérieux Institute's inactivated rabies vaccine administered intradermally or subcutaneously. Vaccine safety was satisfactory, with only minor local and generalized reactions. Serological effectiveness was outstanding: all of those who had been seronegative became seropositive following either two intradermal or subcutaneous injections given one month apart.

Killed poliovirus antigen titration in humans.

To establish the antigen content of a killed poliovirus vaccine sufficiently potent to induce immunity with one or two doses and to establish a reference standard vaccine which has been tested under field conditions, a titration was carried out in infants to determine the amount of each of the three antigenic types of poliovirus vaccine required to induce seroconversion with a single dose. It has been observed that over a critical range of antigen concentration there is an essentially linear relationship between antibody response and quantity of antigen administered. More than 90 percent of the groups studied had detectable antibody after receiving single injections of 80, 8 and 64 D-antigen units of Types I, II and III, respectively.

[Results of preventive rabies vaccination with a concentrated vaccine of the PM/WI38-1503-3M rabies strain cultured on human diploid cells. Preparation of mixed antirabies-antitetanus hyperimmune immunoglobulin by plasmapheresis of blood taken from vaccinated veterinary students].

Many thousands of people in France and abroad have already benefited from preventive rabies vaccination by means of a vaccine obtained from culture on human diploid cells, perfected ten years ago by R. Lang, the Institut Mérieux and the Wistar Institute. In addition to being well tolerated, the serological efficacy of this vaccine is such that 100% of the vaccines observed had a seroconversion after only two injections at an interval of one month.

Combination of attenuated measles vaccine (Schwarz) with meningococcus A and A + C vaccine.

There is an obvious interest in a combined meningococcus-measles vaccine since the two diseases are widespread and serious in Third World countries among children under five years of age. The purpose of our study was to show the safety and effectiveness of such a combined preparation. The study covered 110 children between 8 months and 4 years of age who were followed systematically in a maternal child health center in the Paris area.

A controlled field trial of a serogroup A meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine.

A controlled field trial of a serogroup A meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine was conducted at three locations in Egypt during the winter cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) season of 1971-72. The study population consisted of schoolchildren 6-15 years of age. No cases of serogroup A meningococcal CSM occurred in the group of students vaccinated with the test vaccine whereas 8 cases occurred in the control group vaccinated with tetanus toxoid, and 151 cases occurred in an unvaccinated contrast group.