Despite a reduction in pertussis among younger children and infants, rates of pertussis-related sickness and death remain high compared with rates for other vaccine-preventable diseases in England and Wales.
This study demonstrates that PCV13 is immunogenic and safe in children previously vaccinated with PCV7. By eliciting high antibacterial immune responses to the additional serotypes, PCV13 provides protection against these serotypes, which are important causes of pneumococcal disease globally.
The evidence presented in the article strongly supports the notion that serotype replacement has occurred in invasive pneumococcal disease in most populations and is caused by the vaccine.
Starting 15 September 2011, ECDC will be coordinating the former EUVAC.NET network. It is a surveillance network covering measles, mumps, rubella, congenital rubella, pertussis and varicella EU Member States and three countries of the European Economic Area. Data will be hosted by the European Surveillance System (TESSy) at ECDC.
The authors present an appraisal of the pneumococcal epidemiological situation in 11 Central European countries. Data are based on study findings presented at the 12th Central European Vaccine Advisory Group (CEVAG) meeting, held on 21–22 May 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a literature review of the PubMed database.
In recent years there have been a series of arguments and findings suggesting that Statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) which used widely to lower cholesterol levels may also be important in reducing the risk associated with severe infective conditions.
The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) targets seven of the more than 92 pneumococcal serotypes. Concerns have been raised that non-vaccine serotypes (NVTs) could increase in prevalence and reduce the benefits of vaccination. Indeed, among asymptomatic carriers, the prevalence of NVTs has increased substantially, and consequently, there has been little or no net change in the bacterial carriage prevalence.