Immunological aspects of infections part 16

An interesting sidelight to protection against these infections can be seen  in breast-fed infants who are less susceptible to infection than non-breast-fed babies. It now appears that it is not polysaccharides or antibodies that are responsible for this protection but rather a multimeric form of lactoalbumin (present in high concentrations in human breast milk). A broader approach to protection has been the production of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines specially designed to induce antibody induction in the young child.