Maternal immunisation is a must

Abstract

The success of maternal immunisation has been demonstrated by the use of tetanus vaccination programmes in developing countries. Many more diseases that can occur during the first few weeks of life could be prevented by this strategy. The science to support this idea is available, but there is some way to go before it is put into practice. Research is underway with a number of vaccines, including one that protects against group B streptococcus (GBS) infections. The current status of development of this vaccine was described at the 36th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) [ New Orleans, US; September 1996 ].