H. influenza Statistics 3 million cases of serious disease each year 400,000-700,000 deaths each year in young children

Impact 
A human-restricted Gram-negative bacterium, H. influenzae causes mucosal infections resulting in sinusitis, pneumonia, and bronchitis as well as invasive diseases such as bacteremia and meningitis. H. influenzae is estimated to cause at least 3 million cases of serious disease and hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. The primary manifestations of H. influenzae disease, pneumonia and meningitis, are found primarily in children under the age of five.

Symptoms
Rarely occurring in infants under three months or after the age of six years, the disease burden caused by Hib is highest between ages 4–18 months. Hib is the dominant cause of non-epidemic bacterial meningitis in this age group and is frequently associated with severe neurological disorders despite prompt and adequate antibiotic treatment. In economically developed countries, meningitis accounts for the majority of invasive Hib disease. However, in developing countries, acute respiratory infection – particularly the estimated 2–3 million cases of H. influenzae pneumonia occurring each year – represents an even heavier disease burden.

An effective Hib vaccine, co-developed by Arnold Smith, M.D., a Principal Investigator at SBRI, was introduced into routine childhood immunization programs in the early 1990s. Since that time, Hib disease has largely disappeared in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Western Europe.

SBRI’s Role 
SBRI’s research on Haemophilus influenzae is aimed towards understanding how this bacterium causes disease. Such understanding will lead to improved treatment and prevention. SBRI researchers are seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms by which H. influenzae colonizes the human respiratory tract and, after colonization, how it causes local or systemic disease. Local infections of the respiratory tract under investigation include otitis media, particularly the recalcitrant chronic serous sequelae of infants, acute otitis media and chronic bronchitis.

Arnold Smith, M.D. focuses on the study of Haemophilus influenzae. He worked at Harvard Medical School as part of a team that developed a vaccine to prevent H. influenzae type b infections. His recent work includes comparing the genome sequences of Haemophilus bacteria from four difference children with respiratory disease that are not affected by the Hflu vaccine.

Links 
WHO Haemophilus influenzae fact sheet   

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