View clinical trials related to Streptococcal Infections.
Filter by:Three dose primary vaccination with 11-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine administered concomitantly with Infanrix™ hexa to healthy infants between 8 to 16 weeks of age at the time of first vaccination.
This is a randomized 2-arm study to compare two different times of giving the drug vancomycin. Half of the patients will begin vancomycin two days before a bone marrow transplant. The other half will get it as soon as they have the first fever. Streptococci are bacteria that live in one's mouth and gut. These bacteria can escape into the blood when the lining of the mouth and gut weakens from cancer therapy. This can make the person who is undergoing a bone marrow transplant very sick. All patients who get this infection are treated with antibiotics. Vancomycin is one drug that is used to treat this bloodstream infection once it is diagnosed. Studies have shown that giving vancomycin before a bone marrow transplant seems to prevent this infection. However, giving vancomycin too soon may increase the chance that the kidneys will be irritated. It may also increase the chance that other bacteria will become resistant to this drug. We, the investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, do not know if waiting to start vancomycin until the patient has a first fever can also prevent this infection.
The group B streptococcus (GBS) vaccine study is being done to see if a single vaccination with a GBS type III vaccine can stop women from getting GBS type III bacteria in the vagina. Approximately 600 women, ages 18-40, will be enrolled from the clinical sites participating in this study. Participants will be non-pregnant, sexually active (sex with a male at least once in the last 4 months), and GBS negative in the vagina or rectum at the screening visit. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive the experimental GBS type III vaccine or a licensed vaccine containing Tetanus and Diphtheria Toxoids (Td). Participants will be followed at one month, 2 months and every other month thereafter following vaccination (for vaginal and rectal swab collection and a blood draw) for 1½ years or a total of 10 post vaccination visits.
Bacteria carry substances on their surface called antigens. When antigens come into contact with the right kinds of cells in the body an immune reaction is caused. This reaction is often the symptoms of sickness that a patient feels. In order for the body to fight off the attack of antigens, it creates substances called antibodies. Antibodies counter the action of antigens and make the bacteria harmless. However, the immune system must learn how to make the right antibodies for the right antigens. Sometimes the body creates antibodies that confuse normal tissues as foreign and attack them. This is called an autoimmune reaction and sometimes occurs when the body is exposed to certain bacteria. One bacteria known for causing autoimmune reactions is Group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (GABHS). This bacteria often causes throat infections commonly known as "strep throat". Some researchers believe that the autoimmune reaction associated with strep throat infections may cause neuropsychiatric disorders, like obsessive-compulsive disorder and/or tic disorder in children. As a result, each time a child with one of these disorders experiences an infection with GABHS his/her symptoms can reoccur or worsen. Researchers believe that by giving patients a certain antibiotic, they can prevent GABHS infection and thus prevent the return of symptoms. This study is designed to test the effectiveness of the antibiotic Amoxicillin for the treatment of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections (PANDAS). Patients will receive Amoxicillin for six weeks and placebos "inactive sugar pills" for six weeks in order to see if the medication is truly working. Effectiveness of the treatment will be based on the presence or absence of symptoms. If at the end of the study Amoxicillin is proven to be effective treatment for PANDAS patients may be offered the opportunity to continue taking the medication for an additional six months.
A subgroup of patients with childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or tic disorders has been identified who share a common clinical course characterized by dramatic onset and symptom exacerbations following group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) infections. This subgroup is designated by the acronym PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections). There are five clinical characteristics that define the PANDAS subgroup: presence of OCD and/or tic disorder; prepubertal symptom onset; sudden onset or abrupt exacerbations (relapsing-remitting course); association with neurological abnormalities (presence of adventitious movements or motoric hyperactivity during exacerbations); and temporal association between symptom exacerbations and GABHS infections. In this subgroup, periodic exacerbations appear to be triggered by GABHS infections in a manner similar to that of Sydenham's chorea, the neurological variant of rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is a disorder with a presumed post-streptococcal autoimmune etiology. The streptococcal pathogenesis of rheumatic fever is supported by studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of penicillin prophylaxis in preventing recurrences of this illness. A trial of penicillin prophylaxis in the PANDAS subgroup demonstrated that penicillin was not superior to placebo as prophylaxis against GABHS infections in these children, but this outcome was felt to be secondary to non-compliance with treatment, and there was no decrease in the number of neuropsychiatric symptom exacerbations in this group. In a study comparing azithromycin and penicillin, both drugs were completely effective in preventing streptococcal infections - there were no documented titer elevations during the year-long study period for children taking either penicillin or azithromycin. Comparable reductions in the severity of tics and obsessive-compulsive symptoms were also observed. Thus, penicillin was not performing as an "active placebo" as originally postulated, but rather provided effective prophylaxis against Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal. Both azithromycin and penicillin appear to be effective in eliminating GABHS infections, and reducing neuropsychiatric symptom severity; thus, between-group differences are negligible. Since increasing the "n" to demonstrate superiority of one prophylactic agent over another would be impractical, we have amended the study design to address two issues: 1. To determine if antibiotics prophylaxis against GABHS infections is superior to placebo in prolonging periods of remission among children in the PANDAS subgroup. 2. To determine if antibiotics prophylaxis against GABHS infections is superior to placebo in improving overall symptom severity for obsessive-compulsive symptoms and tics among children in the PANDAS subgroup. Because penicillin has a narrower therapeutic index and is less expensive than azithromycin, it is the preferable prophylactic agent. Further, penicillin (250 mg orally twice a day) has a long history of providing safe and effective prophylaxis for rheumatic fever and is the first line oral therapy recommended by the American Heart Association. Thus, penicillin has been chosen as the prophylactic antibiotic in the present study. Blister packs are used to increase compliance and to allow for easier documentation of missed doses.