%0 Journal Article
%T Pneumococcal Infections and Immunization
%A Mehmet Ceyhan
%J Cocuk Enfeksiyon Dergisi
%D 2008
%I Aves Yayincilik
%X Pneumococcal diseases are a major public health problem all over the world. At least one million children die of pneumococcal disease every year, most of these being young children in developing countries. In the developed world, elderly persons carry the major disease burden. It is the leading cause of some important invasive infections including pneumonia, meningitis and bacteremia; and some common non-invasive infections suh as otitis media and sinusitis. The recent development of widespread microbial resistance to essential antibiotics underlines the urgent need for efficient pneumococcal vaccines. Differences in the composition of the surrounded capsule permit serological differentiation between 91 capsular types, some of which are frequently associated with pneumococcal disease, others rarely. Vaccination is the only available tool in the prevention of pneumococcal disease. A polysaccharide vaccine developed against 23 most common serotypes was licensed in 1977. Although in the healthy elderly population the polysaccharide vaccine provides relatively efficient protection against invasive pneumococcal disease, children under two years of age do not consistently develop immunity following vaccination. After extensive clinical trials, a seven-valent protein-polysaccharide conjugated vaccine has been licensed and is being used in national immunization programs of more than 20 countries including Turkey and in private market immunization in more than 70 countries. This vaccine is being used for routine immunization beginning at two months of age. The most effective vaccination schedule is 3+1 according to available data. Protective efficacy of this vaccine is about 70 to 90 % against meningitis, 20 % against pneumonia, and 6 % against otitis media during childhood . There is some new data indicating a 40 % reduction in otitis media incidence in the USA. Two studies from Turkey have shown a serotype coverage of about 85 to 90 % in invasive isolytes. After the use of conjugated vaccine, a decline in the incidence of invasive pnemococcal infections has been observed due to herd immunity. Two new conjugated vaccines, one 10-valent vaccine including Haemophilus influenzae D protein and one 13-valent vaccine are in the evaluation procedure for licensure.
%K Pneumococcal infection
%K vaccine
%K immunization
%U http://www.cocukenfeksiyon.org/eng/yazilar_ozet.asp?yaziid=250&sayiid=