Are persons with asthma at increased risk of pneumococcal infections, and can we prevent them?

摘要

In this issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Juhn et al report the association of an increased risk of serious pneumococcal disease, defined as invasive pneumococcal disease or pneumococcal pneumonia, among persons with asthma in a population of residents of Rochester, Minn, studied between 1964 and 1983. Previously, our group reported that persons with asthma had a greater than 2-fold increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease, using the Active Bacterial Surveillance Core data from the Centers for Disease Control, which identified Streptococcus pneumoniae from sterile sites, among both children and adults.