Pneumococcal vaccines

Natural Extracts for Antibacterial Applications

Bacteria-induced epidemics and infectious diseases are seriously threatening the health of people around the world. In addition, antibiotic therapy has been inducing increasingly more serious bacterial resistance, which makes it urgent to develop new treatment strategies to combat bacteria, including multidrug-resistant bacteria. Natural extracts displaying antibacterial activity and good biocompatibility have attracted much attention due to greater concerns about the safety of synthetic chemicals and emerging drug resistance. These antibacterial components can be isolated and utilized as antimicrobials, as well as transformed, combined, or wrapped with other substances by using modern assistive technologies to fight bacteria synergistically. This review summarizes recent advances in natural extracts from three kinds of sources-plants, animals, and microorganisms-for antibacterial applications. This work discusses the corresponding antibacterial mechanisms and the future development of natural extracts in antibacterial fields.

Control and Prevention of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease: A Current and Historical Perspective

Although significant progress has been made in reducing the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children, IPD remains a continued threat. Since the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs), rates of IPD and non-IPD have substantially decreased. However, serotype replacement reversed some of the benefits of PCV7 and, more recently, PCV13. Several replacement serotypes are antibiotic resistant, which is a cause of concern for providers. The introduction of the higher-valency conjugate vaccines PCV15 and PCV20 is expected to provide greater serotype coverage; unfortunately, these vaccines do not include some of the recently emerged serotypes. Recommendations for the use of the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine in high-risk populations may be modified because of the effectiveness of the newer PCVs. Pediatricians must be aware of the new vaccine strategies for the prevention of IPD and the manifestations of IPD so that prompt empirical therapy can be initiated when treatment is required. [Pediatr Ann. 2023;52(3):e96-e101.].

Evidence of TCM Theory in Treating the Same Disease with Different Methods: Treatment of Pneumonia with Ephedra sinica and Scutellariae Radix as an Example

Pneumonia is a serious global health problem and the leading cause of mortality in children. Antibiotics are the main treatment for bacterial pneumonia, but there are serious drug resistance problems. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to treat diseases for thousands of years and has a unique theory. This article takes the treatment of pneumonia with Ephedra sinica as a representative hot medicine and Scutellariae Radix as a representative cold medicine as an example. We explore and explain the theory of treating the same disease with different TCM treatments. Using transcriptomics and network pharmacology methods, GO, KEGG enrichment, and PPI network construction were carried out, demonstrating that Ephedra sinica plays a therapeutic role through the NF-κB and apoptosis signaling pathways targeting PLAU, CD40LG, BLC2L1, CASP7, and CXCL8. The targets of Scutellariae Radix through the IL-17 signaling pathway are MMP9, CXCL8, and MAPK14. Molecular docking technology was also used to verify the results. In short, our results provide evidence for the theory of treating the same disease with different treatments, and we also discuss future directions for traditional Chinese medicine.

Assessment of episodes of pneumonia and diarrhea in vaccinated and unvaccinated children under 60 months of age

Objective:

To assess the episodes of pneumonia and diarrhea in vaccinated and unvaccinated children under 60 months of age.

Methods:

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Darul Sehat Hospital and SESSI, Karachi in the Department of Pediatrics from 1^st November 2018 to 3^rd February 2019. An interview based questionnaire was administered and selection of participants was done by convenience sampling. Total of 196 participants were selected for interview.

Results:

Total 196 participants were interviewed which included mothers of children between the age group of 1- 60 months. The questions were entered on the questionnaire after taking consent from the mothers. Among them, males were 98 (52.7%) and females were 88(47.3%). One hundred seventy two (88.7%) children were vaccinated for pneumococcal and rotavirus whereas unvaccinated children were 22(11.3%). There was an incidence of 66(63.5%) for loose watery diarrhea. In vaccinated children, grading of diarrhea was found to be severe cases as 30 (34.9%), moderate cases as 27 (31.4%) and mild cases as 29(33.7%). For unvaccinated children, severe cases were 12 (66.7%) and for mild and moderate cases were (11.1%) and 04(22.2%) respectively with p value of 0.035. As compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, the frequency of severe pneumonia was far less than cough and cold in vaccinated children (p<0.001).

Conclusion:

There is significant reduction in cases of severe pneumonia in children receiving pneumococcal vaccine as compared to children receiving Rota vaccine there is moderate reduction in cases of severe diarrhea. The overall coverage of Pneumococcal and Rota vaccines was higher in our sample population. Efforts should be made to increase the awareness of Rotavirus vaccination in order to have better coverage in future.