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African Children Vulnerable To Sickle-Cell Disease
A new study released this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases finds that those African children who contract pneumococcus -- a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis -- are highly likely to fall victim to sickle cell. It also underscores the critical need for use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) among populations predisposed to sickle-cell disease, most notably those in sub-saharan Africa.
"Our findings clearly show that African children with sickle-cell disease are at increased risk of bacterial illness compared with their peers without sickle-cell disease, with the pneumococcus being of particular concern," said Dr. Keith P. Klugman, contributing author and professor and William H. Foege Chair in Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health.
Africa is home to the vast majority of the world's sickle-cell disease cases. Sickle-cell disease is inherited by a child from both parents and is caused by abnormal hemoglobin, a blood protein that distorts the shape of red blood cells and delivers less oxygen to tissues. The disease weakens the immune system and puts its victims at risk for serious bacterial infection and childhood death. Data examined from studies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal ? countries with the highest sickle-cell disease burden ? clearly demonstrate an increased risk of serious bacterial infection, especially invasive pneumococcal disease, in African children with sickle-cell disease.
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