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Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in healthy Norwegian children attending day-care centres

M K R Sogstad1, I S Aaberge, J O Sørdal

  • 1Division of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway.

European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases : Official Publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology
|August 10, 2006
PubMed

Insights

A study on Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in Norwegian children found no significant effect of the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on nasopharyngeal colonization in a small observational study.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Vaccinology

Background:

  • Two cases of pneumococcal meningitis caused by the England(14)-9 clone prompted an investigation into Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage.
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the impact of a seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) on Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in Norwegian children.
  • To identify prevalent pneumococcal serotypes in young children attending day-care centers.

Main Methods:

  • An observational study involving children from four day-care centers in Oslo.
  • One group of children was vaccinated with PCV7, while a control group was not.
  • Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from participants over a 9-month period with three sampling points.

Main Results:

  • At the initial visit, 45.7% of children carried pneumococci in their nasopharynx.
  • Commonly detected serotypes included 6A, 23F, 6B, and 19F.
  • A decrease in vaccine-type serotype carriage was observed in both vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, with no statistically significant vaccine effect.

Conclusions:

  • The seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine did not demonstrate a significant impact on Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in this study.
  • Further research with larger sample sizes may be needed to confirm these findings.

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