Publication

Impact of existing vaccines in reducing antibiotic resistance: primary and secondary effects

Authored by:

Klugman KP, Black S

Full Citation:

Klugman KP, Black S 2018. Impact of existing vaccines in reducing antibiotic resistance: primary and secondary effects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115(51).

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Additional key concepts from this publication:

The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has been shown to significantly reduce the rate of antibiotic and multi-drug resistant strains of pneumococcal disease.

Key Evidence: Studies in several countries have shown that, following the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, there was a reduction in the number and percent of drug-resistant cases of pneumococcal diseases in children, and in some countries in adults, due to herd effects. In Japan there was a 10-fold decline in the proportion of penicillin-resistance among cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (from 56% to 5%), and in the U.S. there were reductions of 81% and 49% in the proportion of penicillin-resistant cases in children less than two years and in adults more than 65 years old, respectively.

Use of vaccines decreases the need to use antibiotics to treat disease, thus reducing the opportunity for the development of antimicrobial resistance.

Key Evidence: Several studies have shown a 13-50% reduction in the use of antibiotics by children who have received influenza vaccine compared with unvaccinated controls. This is due to a decline in febrile illnesses causes by influenza — for which antibiotics are often prescribed inappropriately — as well as a decline in secondary bacterial infections requiring antibiotic treatment, such as pneumonia and middle ear infections, that are triggered by influenza.