ICEID: Vaccine Reduces Pneumococcal Disease Rates

<p>WEDNESDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) for children under age 5 in 2000, rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) have significantly declined in all age groups while rates of IPD caused by non-vaccine strains have increased modestly, according to research presented this week at the 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.</p><p>Matthew Moore, M.D., of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues compared rates of IPD in 2006 with reported rates for 1998-1999.</p><p>The researchers found that IPD rates decreased by 78 percent in children under age 5, 38 percent in children aged 5 to 17, 39 percent in adults aged 18 to 49, 14 percent in adults aged 50 to 64, 32 percent in adults aged 65 to 79 and 42 percent in adults aged 80 and older. They estimated that the vaccine's introduction prevented 170,000 cases of IPD and 9,800 deaths between 2001 and 2006. But they also found that the incidence of IPD caused by strains not included in the vaccine increased by 40 percent.</p><p>"Disease caused by non-PCV7 serotypes, especially 19A, is emerging and accounts for nearly all IPD," the authors conclude. "Newer conjugate vaccines targeting more serotypes are needed to further reduce IPD."</p><p><a href="http://www.asm.org/ASM/files/LeftMarginHeaderList/DOWNLOADFILENAME/000000002753/pneumococcal%20vaccine.pdf" target="_new">More Information</a></p>

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