Kroll J S, Booy R
Department of Paediatrics, Imperial College School of Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
Mol Med Today. 1996 Apr;2(4):160-5. doi: 10.1016/1357-4310(96)88791-0.
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.
1931年，玛格丽特·皮特曼博士报告了她的发现：导致脑膜炎的流感嗜血杆菌菌株具有多糖荚膜，并且几乎所有病例都是由一种荚膜类型即b血清型引起的。旨在理解和利用这一开创性观察结果的各种研究项目在20世纪80年代达到了顶峰，当时引入了纯化的b型多糖疫苗来保护儿童免受这种可怕疾病的侵害。疫苗免疫原性的后续改进已转化为令人印象深刻的疗效，并且有人提出，如果所有儿童都接种疫苗，那么危及生命的儿童感染的一个主要原因可能会被消除。
