Haemophilus influenzae: capsule vaccine and capsulation genetics

In 1931, Dr Margaret Pittman reported her discovery that Haemophilus influenzae strains responsible for meningitis had a polysaccharide capsule, and that one capsular type, serotype b, was responsible for nearly all cases. Diverse programmes of research aimed at understanding and exploiting this seminal observation culminated, in the 1980s, in the introduction of a purified type b polysaccharide vaccine to protect children against this terrible disease. Subsequent improvements in vaccine immunogenicity have translated into impressive efficacy and the suggestion that, were all children to be immunized, a major cause of life-threatening childhood infection might be vanquished.