CHOC will be well represented at a prestigious upcoming pediatrics conference, with two research projects set to be presented.
At the 2015 Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting later this month, CHOC infectious disease physicians will present the outcomes of a study that examined the efficacy of the pneumococcal disease vaccine in Orange County youth.
The study shows that the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease has decreased in Orange County children every year since the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) was introduced in 2010, says Dr. Antonio Arrieta, chief of infectious disease at CHOC.
Researchers looked at all Orange County children who developed invasive pneumococcal disease, found each case’s bacteria serotype, and determined whether it was a vaccine type.
“We were able to show that the difference was for the whole population and more noticeable in children 5 and younger, who are more susceptible,” Dr. Arrieta says. “The vaccine is doing its job.”
The results show that PCV-13 has improved upon the already good outcomes from the vaccine’s previous incarnation, PCV-7, which was released in 2000.
“The vaccine is very expensive, so we are putting our money on something that is working,” Dr. Arrieta says. “It was very important to ascertain that the vaccine worked because when this was approved, it was approved without clinical trials. It was approved only with immunogenicity data.”
Drs. Michele Cheung, Delma Nieves and Jasjit Singh, as well as Stephanie Osborne, a CHOC clinical research nurse, also authored the study, which was conducted in partnership with the Orange County Health Care Agency and Kaiser.
Also, the conference will feature a project co-led by Dr. Dan Cooper, CHOC’s chief academic officer, on exercise biomarkers and translational research in child health.
The annual meeting will be held April 25-28 in San Diego.
