Pneumococcal infection and colonization in children and its impact on pneumococcal disease in adults

摘要

The introduction of 7 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in children in the USA in the year 2000 has been followed by evidence not only of direct protection from invasive pneumococcal disease, meningitis and pneumonia in immunized infants, but also by a reduction in serotype specific infections in adults, particularly the elderly. The decrease in disease in adults is due to the induction of herd immunity through the vaccine impact on acquisition of vaccine serotypes in the nasopharynx of immunized children.