What is Haemophilus influenzae type b?
Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib (no relation to the flu), is a serious bacterial infection that can cause meningitis, pneumonia, swelling of the throat, and other disease complications. Hib is spread through sneezing, coughing, and secretions from an infected person. Treatment mainly consists of intravenously administered antibiotics. Oxygen therapy and other medical tactics may also be required. Is Hib a common disease? During the 1970s and 1980s, there were an estimated 16,000 to 20,000 Hib infections per year in the United States.(7,8) (Official statistics were not kept, so these figures may have been inflated when the vaccine was being developed.) Meningitis occurred in about half of the cases.(9) Around 25 percent of all Hib infections caused hearing loss, neurological problems, or pneumonia.(10-12) Epiglottitis (inflammation of the throat) accounted for nearly 15 percent of cases.(13) The mortality rate was about four percent.(14,15) Hib infections occurred at a much lower
