[Studies on the efficacy of cholera vaccination in a population sample of Bari]

To measure the efficacy of cholera vaccination during the epidemic of cholera occurred in August-September 1973 in Bari, agglutinating and vibriocidal antibody titers were determined in 151 subjects; of these, 65 were children between 6 months and 4 years of age and 86 adults past thirty years. Antibodies could be proved in 80% of the subjects, with relatively higher frequency in children (84,6%) than in adults (76,7%). No significant difference was seen against the serotypes Inaba and Ogawa. The vibriocidal antibody tests was uniformly more sensitive than the agglutination test. In 108 of these subjects (all of 65 children and 43 of the adults), it was possible to make the serological controls 3 and 6 months after vaccination. At 3 months, antibodies were determined in 50,7% of the children and in 44,2% of the adults; at 6 months, only 20% of the children and 18,6% of the adults showed agglutinating and vibriocidal antibodies. For the control, the research of V. cholerae-antibodies was maked also in sera of 300 healties subjects of all ages, by whom the bleedings were obtained prior to epidemic of cholera. Antibodies against the serotypes Inaba and Ogawa were determined in 23 subjects (7,6%); of these, 5 had vibriocidal titers of 1:2560-1:5120.