Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in infants, children and the elderly. Despite the availability of excellent antimicrobial therapy and adequate health care systems, respiratory diseases and invasive infections caused by pneumococci still comprise a major health problem. The emerging resistance to penicillin and other commonly used antibiotics underscores the ...

The pneumococcal pilus has been shown to be an important determinant of adhesion and virulence in mouse models of colonization, pneumonia, and bacteremia. A pilus is capable of inducing protective immunity, supporting its inclusion in next-generation pneumococcal protein vaccine formulations. Whether this vaccine target is common among pneumococci in sub-Saharan Africa is uncertain. To define t...

HIV-patients have excess of pneumococcal infection. We immunized 40 HIV-patients twice with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Prevnar, Pfizer) +/- a TLR9 agonist (CPG 7909). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with pneumococcal polysaccharides and cytokine concentrations measured. The CPG 7909 adjuvant group had significantly higher relative cytokine responses than the placebo grou...

BACKGROUND Streptococcus pneumoniae is the main cause of invasive bacterial disease in children aged younger than 2 years. Navajo and White Mountain Apache children have some of the highest rates of invasive pneumococcal disease documented in the world. We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of a seven-valent polysaccharide protein conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PnCRM7) against such diseas...

In the Netherlands, the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) was implemented in a 3+1-dose schedule in the national immunization program for infants born after April 1, 2006. To assess the vaccine's effectiveness, we compared disease incidence before and after vaccine implementation (June 2004-June 2006 and June 2006-June 2008, respectively). We serotyped 2,552 invasive pneumococcal ...

Pneumococcal conjugated vaccines (PCVs) have shown protection against invasive pneumococcal disease by vaccine serotypes, but an increase in non-vaccine serotype disease has been observed. Type-specific effects on clinical manifestation need to be explored. Clinical data from 2096 adults and 192 children with invasive pneumococcal disease were correlated to pneumococcal molecular serotypes. Inv...

3. Department of Health. United Kingdom. Chapter 25: pneumococcal. In: Immunisation against infectious diseases—‘The green book’. 2006 [cited 2011 Nov 11]. http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/GreenBook/GreenBookGeneralInformation/ GreenBookGeneralArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ ID=4097254&chk=isTfGX) 4. Borrow R, Stanford E, Waight P, Helbert M, Balmer P, Warrington R, et al...

The 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine was formulated to prevent invasive infection in the elderly and other high-risk populations from the most prevalent Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes. However, the immunogenicity of all 23 vaccine polysaccharides has not been fully characterized in elderly adults. We previously reported that whereas the majority of elderly subjects had vigorous...

background: selective antibody deficiency with normal immunoglobulins (sadni) may be identified as part of distinct primary or secondary immunodeficiency disorders. the clinical manifestations include recurrent, often severe or prolonged, upper or lower respiratory tract infections. objectives: to evaluate sadni in patients with recurrent sinopulmonary infections and its relation to igg subclas...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown influenza vaccine uptake in UK nursing home residents to be low. Very little information exists regarding the uptake of pneumococcal vaccine in this population. The formulation of policies relating to the vaccination of residents has been proposed as a simple step that may help improve vaccine uptake in care homes. METHODS A postal questionnaire was sent...