Background. In the general population, pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines (PPV) decrease the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) whereas the impact on the prevention of noninvasive pneumococcal disease is less clear. As compared with PPV, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) provoke a higher, longer-lasting immune response resulting in a 45% decreased incidence in vaccine-type p...

OBJECTIVE To determine the clinical effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccine. DATA SOURCES Computerized searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and SCISEARCH databases were performed, reference lists of retrieved articles were reviewed, and first authors of published studies were contacted. STUDY SELECTION Studies of use of pneumococcal vaccines in adults were included if the study design was a randomize...

BACKGROUND Celiac disease has been associated with hyposplenism, and multiple case reports link celiac disease and pneumococcal infections; however, increased risk of pneumococcal infection in celiac disease has not been confirmed. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review to determine the risk of pneumococcal infections in celiac disease. METHODS Relevant studies were iden...

The global burden of pneumococcal diseases is high, with young children and adults≥50 years of age at highest risk of infection. Two types of vaccine are available for the prevention of pneumococcal diseases caused by specific Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes: the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7, PCV10, and PCV13). Despite pneumococcal ...

We evaluated an immunochromatographic assay detecting pneumococcal antigen in urine samples from children diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia. The sensitivity and specificity of the immunochromatographic test with nonconcentrated urine (NCU) were 86.7 and 62.9%, respectively; with concentrated urine (CU), they were 100 and 11.7%, respectively. Pneumococcal antigen was also detected in 42.5% o...

Child contact is a recognised risk factor for adult pneumococcal disease. Peaks in invasive pneumococcal disease incidence observed during winter holidays may be related to changes in social dynamics. This analysis was conducted to examine adult pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) incidence during school holiday periods. Between September 2008 and 2013, consecutive adults admitted t...

BACKGROUND The burden of pneumococcal disease in adults aged 65 years and older in Australia is not well defined. This retrospective cross-sectional study calculated rates for pneumococcal pneumonia using data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and from the Bettering Evaluation and Care of Health program. METHODS Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence was calculated us...

Background Patients with recurrent respiratory tract infections and an impaired response to pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination are diagnosed with a specific antibody deficiency. In adult patients with pneumococcal pneumonia an impaired antibody response to the infecting pneumococcal serotype can sometimes be found. It is unknown whether these patients are unable to produce an adequate anti...

BACKGROUND People with severe mental illness have a higher risk than others of some physical diseases. The risk of pneumococcal disease in people with mental disorders is unknown. This is potentially important because vaccines against the pneumococcus are available. METHODS We used two datasets of linked hospital admission and death records, the Oxford Record Linkage Study and all-England lin...

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics of pneumococcal isolates obtained from patients with invasive pneumococcal disease in The Gambia. METHODS: Pneumococcal isolates were obtained from children aged < or =6 years with invasive pneumococcal disease during a Haemophilus influenzae vaccine effectiveness study (1997-2002) and from patients with invasive pneumococcal disease admitted to the M...