DTwP
| Combination of | |
|---|---|
| Diphtheria vaccine | Vaccine |
| Pertussis vaccine | Vaccine |
| Tetanus vaccine | Vaccine |
| Legal status | |
| Legal status |
|
| Identifiers | |
| ChemSpider |
|
  (what is this?)
|
|
DPT (also DTP and DTwP) refers to a class of combination vaccines against three infectious diseases in humans: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus. The vaccine components include diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and killed whole cells of the bacterium that causes pertussis (wP).
DTaP and Tdap refer to similar combination vaccines in which the component "P" or "p" with lower case "a" is .
Also available are the DT and Td vaccines, which lack the pertussis component.
In the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France, the abbreviation DTP refers to a combination vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, and poliomyelitis. In the Netherlands, pertussis is known as kinkhoest and DKTP refers to a combination vaccine against diphtheria, kinkhoest, tetanus, and polio.
The usual course of childhood immunization in the USA is five doses between 2 months and 15 years. For adults, Td boosters are recommended every 10 years..
In the latter 20th century, vaccinations helped to reduce the incidence of childhood pertussis in the United States. Despite this, reported instances of the disease increased twenty-fold in the early 21st century, resulting in numerous fatalities. Over this time, many parents declined to vaccinate their children against pertussis for fear of side effects. In 2009, The journal Pediatrics concluded the largest risk among unvaccinated children was not the contraction of side effects, but rather the disease that the vaccination aims to protect against.
DTP was licensed in 1949.
DTaP and Tdap are both combined vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. The difference is in the dosage, with the upper case letters meaning higher quantity. The names are easy to confuse, and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices reports hundreds of cases of accidental mix-ups.
DTaP (also DTPa and TDaP) is a combined vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, in which the pertussis component is acellular. This is in contrast to whole-cell, inactivated DTP (aka DTwP). The acellular vaccine uses selected antigens of the pertussis pathogen to induce immunity. Because it uses fewer antigens than the whole cell vaccines, it is considered safer, but it is also more expensive. Recent research suggests that the DTP vaccine is more effective than DTaP in conferring immunity; this is because DTaP's narrower antigen base is less effective against current pathogen strains.
...
Wikipedia