Final answer:
While the exact percentage of adults with antibodies against Haemophilus influenzae is not widely reported, vaccination programs targeting Hib have significantly reduced the occurrence of associated diseases, with most children developing immunity by age five. Adults who were vaccinated or exposed to the bacterium may have antibodies, but specifics are not provided without detailed seroprevalence studies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question you’ve asked pertains to the proportion of adults who have developed antibodies against Haemophilus influenzae, specifically Hib (Haemophilus influenzae Type b). The prevalence of Hib antibodies in adults is not typically reported in a broad sense since vaccination programs have significantly reduced the incidence of invasive diseases caused by Hib, especially meningitis. However, before the widespread use of the Hib vaccine, H. influenzae was a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under five. After the introduction of the Hib vaccine, immunity in the general population has increased, and transmitting the bacteria has become less frequent.
Now, most children develop immunity to H. influenzae by the age of five. It is additionally important to note that the Hib vaccine is recommended for all children, with doses given at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, and a final booster at 12 to 15 months. Due to the effective Hib vaccination programs, many adults may carry antibodies against H. influenzae, but without recent statistics, an exact percentage of adults with these antibodies cannot be provided. Additionally, H. influenzae can exist in the throats of healthy individuals without causing disease, as was shown in the elementary school where more than 50% of the children were carriers, yet asymptomatic.
Without specifying a particular study area or a recent survey, saying what percentage of adults have antibodies against H. influenzae would be speculative. Public health records concerning specifically adult immunity to Hib usually discuss vaccination rates rather than antibody prevalence among adults.