Organization, 2003). Efforts to limit pneumococcal disease have focused primarily on antibiotic intervention and vaccination. However, after initial, and often dramatic, successes the effectiveness of these measures has consistently been overcome by the extremely adaptable and resilient pneumococcus. S. pneumoniae is naturally competent and readily incorporates DNA fragments derived from pneumo...

The currently available 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) elicits good immune response to and is effective against vaccine serotypes. However, its effectiveness against vaccine-related serotypes is variable. Serum samples were obtained 1 month after the last vaccination from 31 infants immunized with PCV7 at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. The sera were used to determine immunoglobulin ...

Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the availability, since the early 1980s, of a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PP V23), its recommendation and increased use in the last decades, and the indirect benefits against invasive pneumococcal diseases following the pediatric immunization strategies with the 7-valent pneumococca...

BACKGROUND Despite the dramatic decline in the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) observed since the introduction of conjugate vaccination, it is feared that several factors may undermine the future effectiveness of the vaccines. In particular, pathogenic pneumococci may switch their capsular types and evade vaccine-conferred immunity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Here, we fir...

Antibiotic-use policies may affect pneumococcal conjugate-vaccine effectiveness. The reported increase of pneumococcal meningitis from 2001 to 2009 in France, where a national campaign to reduce antibiotic use was implemented in parallel to the introduction of the 7-valent conjugate vaccine, provides unique data to assess these effects. We constructed a mechanistic pneumococcal transmission mod...

Pneumococcal diseases are associated with a significant clinical and economic burden. The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) has been used for the immunization of newborns against invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) in Italy while now, the pneumococcal non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) and the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13...

INTRODUCTION Shiragami and colleagues [1] have presented a cost-effectiveness model of the use of routine pneumococcal vaccination in infants in Japan using the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) and the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13). In this analysis, the authors concluded that the routine use of PCV10 was more cost-effective than PCV13. While the analysis appl...

The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was added to the U.S. infant immunization schedule in the year 2000. By 2009, PCV7 introduction was associated with a 43% decline in all-cause pneumonia among U.S. children aged <2 years. In 2010, a new 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) replaced PCV7 in the infant immunization schedule, expanding protection from seven to 13 pneum...

Adults (n = 282) were randomized to receive either a pneumococcal glycoprotein conjugate vaccine, composed of pneumococcal serotypes 6B, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F linked to CRM197, or a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. Among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-uninfected persons, conjugate vaccine elicited significantly higher IgG antibody geometric mean titers (GMTs) than did polysacc...