OBJECTIVE To conduct a comprehensive review of data on pneumococcal disease incidence in Latin America and the Caribbean and project the annual number of pneumococcal disease episodes and deaths among children < 5 years of age in the region. METHODS We carried out a systematic review (1990 to 2006) on the burden of pneumococcal disease in children < 5 years of age in the region. We summarized...

Pneumococcal endocarditis is an uncommon disease. Here, we describe a case of endocarditis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in a young man following a nose trauma. In traumas that involve the respiratory system and the mucous membrane, bacterial complications such as colonization and bacteremia and end-organ involvement should be considered by physicians.

BACKGROUND The importance of bacterial infections following respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains unclear. We evaluated whether variations in RSV epidemic timing and magnitude are associated with variations in pneumococcal disease epidemics and whether changes in pneumococcal disease following the introduction of seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) were associated with change...

CONTEXT A conjugate vaccine targeting 7 pneumococcal serotypes was licensed for young children in 2000. In contrast to the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine used in adults, the 7-valent conjugate vaccine affects pneumococcal carriage and transmission. Early after its introduction, incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease declined among older adults, a group at high risk for pneumococcal diseas...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Fever is among the most common presenting complaints of infants and children younger than 3 years who present to the emergency department (ED). The evaluation and management of the febrile child is evolving rapidly. We compare the proportion of pneumococcal bacteremia between febrile infants and children younger than 3 years who had and had not received the heptavalent pneumococ...

T he effect of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine–7 (PCV-7) in reducing pneumococcal nasopharyngeal (NP) carriage in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants has not been studied. Our primary objective was to characterize NP carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in a group of VLBW infants (weight, 4011500 g) before administration of the first PCV-7 vaccine (prevaccine) and at 4 to 6 weeks after a 3-dose...

A 59-year-old man treated with pneumococcal meningitis 4 months ago was hospitalized for acute heart failure and performed aortic valve replacement by rupture of aortic valve. The frequent association of pneumococcal meningitis and endocarditis is known as Austrian syndrome. Though Austrian syndrome is a clinically rare disease, the evolution of pneumococcal endocarditis is very aggressive and ...

A previously healthy eight-month-old infant presented with shortness of breath and pyrexia. He was found to have purulent pericarditis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, complicated by acute renal failure due to haemolytic uraemic syndrome. He received peritoneal dialysis and recovered with normalisation of renal function. This case highlights two important complications of pneumococcal infection...

Seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) introduction and routine pediatric use has substantially reduced the burden of Streptococcus pneumoniae disease worldwide. However, a significant amount of disease burden, due to serotypes not contained in PCV7, still exists globally. A newly recognized serotype, 6C, was until recently, identified and reported as serotype 6A. This review summar...