Raising the profile of pneumococcal disease

摘要

Diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneu-mococcus) are familiar to most health professionals. This high-grade pathogen is the most important cause of pneumonia in all age groups throughout the world and is one of the most important causes of meningitis, otitis media and bacteraemia. The global burden of pneumococcal disease is enormous. Although it is difficult to obtain precise incidence data because of the limited availability and performance of diagnostic tests, conservative estimates place pneumococcal disease among the world's higher-profile major infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV infection. Each year, pneumococcal disease is estimated to kill approximately 1.6 million people, including up to 1 million children less than 5 years old. Pneumococcal disease is probably the world's single biggest killer of young children. Updated estimates of disease burden will be released later this year with the publication of the findings of the World Health Organization's global burden of pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae type b disease project.