69 Unresponsiveness to Conjugate Pneumococcal Polysaccharidesin Children With Recurrent Respiratory Infections

E. J. Saturno1, K. E. Mason2, L. Leiva1, R. U. Sorensen1; 1Pediatrics,Division of A/I, LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 2Schoolof Public Health, LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA.RATIONALE: To establish the antibody response rate in children withrecurrent infections and fully immunized with the Pneumococcal 7-valentConjugate vaccine.

S42 Abstracts J ALLERGY CLIN IMMUNOL

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METHODS: We have analyzed 39 patients referred to our clinic withrecurrent infections despite complete immunization with the Pneumococ-cal 7-valent Conjugate vaccine for age, according to ACIP guidelines. Weassessed the patients by checking their immunization status and the anti-body titers to all 7 Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes included in thevaccine (4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, 23F) assessed by standardized ELISA.The patients were assembled into 3 groups, a non-immunized group withlaboratory data prior to the vaccine, and an immunized group consisting ofresponders and non-responders according to their antibody titer (>1.3 or<1.3 IU/ml respectively). The data were analyzed using Epi Info and SPSS.RESULTS: The mean age was 3.8 years for responders and 3.3 years fornon-responders. There was no significant statistical difference betweenthe groups regarding age, race and sex. Ten patients were identified whofailed to respond to all 7 serotypes included in the Pneumococcal 7-valentConjugate vaccine. There was no significant statistical difference betweenthe non-immunized and the immunized non-responders to all 7 serotypes.CONCLUSIONS: We have identified a special immunological pheno-type of specific antibody deficiency (SAD) patients with normal totalimmunoglobulins and normal responses to protein antigens, but whofailed to respond to conjugate pneumococcal polysaccharides.Funding: Self-funded

J ALLERGY CLIN IMMUNOL Abstracts S43VOLUME 113, NUMBER 2

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