Septic arthritis due to Haemophilus influenzae serotype a in the post-vaccination era in Brazil.

Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) is an important bacterial pathogen in children, causing a variety of respiratory infections and lifethreatening diseases such as meningitis, epiglottitis, pneumonia and septicaemia. Occasionally, Hi can also cause sporadic infections such as septic arthritis (SA). Before the advent of Hi type b (Hib) vaccination, paediatric invasive Hi disease was caused mostly by Hib isolates. Hib SA in children had been responsible for a significant proportion of cases in Europe and the United States (Bowerman et al., 1997; Peltola et al., 1998; Shoaib et al., 2007).