Allergies have been on the rise in Australia over the past 20 years, with three out of every 10 babies born each year now developing a food-related allergy or eczema by their first birthday.
OPTIMUM: OPTimising IMunisation Using Mixed schedules
In Australia, the whole-cell whooping cough vaccine was used up until 1999 when an acellular version of the vaccine was introduced. The whole-cell vaccine is still used in the vast majority of the world, with both versions safe and protective against whooping cough but train the immune system in different ways.
In research published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, researchers found that that children who had received one or more doses of whole-cell vaccine in the late 1990s were 23 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with a food allergy than those who didn’t.
In order to investigate this, the OPTIMUM Study aims to determine if giving a dose of ‘whole-cell’ whooping cough vaccine at two months of age can help protect young children against food allergies and eczema.
The OPTIMUM Study was first piloted in Perth in 2018 and involved 150 WA babies. At two months of age, half of the children received the whole-cell vaccine and the other half receives the acellular vaccine. All the children continue to receive acellular vaccines at four and six months of age, and are followed-up for approximately 19 months to assess any changes in their allergy status.
The research team were then awarded a $3.9 million grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council to further investigate these findings and begin a carefully controlled national study involving 3000 Australian babies. The second stage of the study has now commenced in Perth, with 194 participants enrolled in total so far, and the Melbourne and Sydney sites due to begin recruitment in 2021.
If you would like more information or may be interested in participating in the OPTIMUM Study, please email OPTIMUM@telethonkids.org.au.