A double-blind study comparing an acellular pertussis-component DTP vaccine with a whole-cell pertussis-component DTP vaccine in 18-month-old children
K. Lewis, J. D. Cherry, H. J. Holroyd, L. R. Baker, F. E. Dudenhoeffer and R. G. Robinson
An acellular pertussis-component diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (AC-DTP)
vaccine was compared with a currently licensed, whole-cell
pertussis-component DTP (WC-DTP) vaccine for reactogenicity and
immunogenicity when given as the fourth DTP immunization in sixty 18- to
24-month-old children. Reactions over the first 48 hours were significantly
less common in the AC-DTP vaccine recipients, as follows (WC-DTP/AC-DTP):
fever, 85%/5%; redness, 70%/12.5%; tenderness, 100%/22.5%; swelling,
35%/10%; fretfulness, 70%/12.5%; anorexia, 35%/2.5%; and vomiting, 10%/0%.
Antibody responses to pertussis antigens (agglutinogens,
lymphocytosis-promoting factor, and filamentous hemagglutinin), diphtheria
toxoid, and tetanus toxoid in AC-DTP vaccine recipients were comparable
with those in WC-DTP vaccine recipients. The AC-DTP vaccine evaluated in
this trial seems to be as immunogenic as WC-DTP vaccine while being
markedly less reactogenic.
