Nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in very low-birth-weight infants after administration of heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

摘要

The effect of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine-7 (PCV-7) in reducing pneumococcal nasopha-ryngeal (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, 401-1500 g) before administration of the first PCV-7 vaccine (prevaccine) and at 4 to 6 weeks after a 3-dose PCV-7 primary series (postvaccine). We also investigated the correlation between vaccine-induced pneumococcal IgG antibody level and pneumococcal NP carriage after PCV-7 (postvaccine).