Polysaccharides pneumonia vaccination (PPV-23) and serum pneumonia-specific IGG levels in the elderly

Background: Immune responses in elderly will decline with increasing age, which eventually leads to increased susceptibility to infections. Respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia are the leading cause of death and decreased quality of life in the elderly. Pneumococcal vaccination is highly recommended by the WHO for the elderly, but previous report showed a poor response. Currently there is still limited data about the effect of pneumococcal polysaccharides (PPV-23) vaccination to the serum pneumococcal-specific IgG levels in the elderly. Objevtives: To determine the effect of the PPV-23 vaccination on the serum pneumococcal-specific IgG levels in elderly hajj pilgrims in Indonesia. Methods: This is a pre-posttest study involving healthy older hajj pilgrims recruited from 5 community health centers in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia during the 2012 hajj season. All eligible subjects gave their written consent. PPV-23 vaccination were given before depature. Serum pneumococcal-specific IgG levels were measured using ELISA method before and 4 weeks after the vaccination. Rsults: We recruited 21 elderly hajj pilgrims (age > 60 years), consisted of 12 females and 9 males. The median serum pneumococcal-specific IgG levels before vaccination was 2029 mU/mL (range: 441-2918 mU/mL), which significantly increased to 3251 mU/mL (range: 2251-8110 mU/mL) after vaccination. The median increase in serum pneumococcal-specific IgG levels was 1222 mU/mL which was statistically significant (p = 0,000; Wilcoxon test). Cnclusion: Vaccination with pneumococcal polysaccharides (PPV-23) significantly induce an increase in the serum pneumococcal-specific IgG levels in Indonesian elderly hajj pilgrims.