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DISASTER NEWS
Indian influenza
vaccination campaign a first
For the first
time, India will vaccinate children against
haemophilus infleunzae type B (HIB), a
bacteria responsible for illnesses like
pneumonia, meningitis, and septic arthritis.
The decision to launch an immunization
campaign comes after a US$9 million project
to measure and document HIB found it to be
abundantly present in India, contrary to a
commonly held notion that these diseases are
rare in Asia. Although India has been aware
of the presence of pneumonia and meningitis,
the study revealed that HIB was a major
cause. The Indian Council of Medical
Research led the project, which was part of
a larger US$37 million HIB joint initiative
involving Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, and World Health
Organization. The HIB vaccine will be first
used in India’s Tamil Nadu state to
vaccinate all new-born children. Bangladesh,
Pakistan and Nepal have also decided to use
the vaccine.
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