The current status of invasive pneumococcal disease in PolandArchived

Skoczynskaa A, Sadowyc E, Bojarskab K, Strzelecki J, Kucha A, Gołebiewskaa A, Waskoa I, Forys M, van der Lindend M, Hryniewicza W and Participants of a laboratory-based surveillance of community acquired invasive bacterial infections (BINet). Vaccine 2011; 29: 2199–2205

Mass vaccination against invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) has not yet been implemented in Poland. This study assesses the incidence of IPD (2006–2009), the serotype distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates. The IPD incidence rates were highest among children under 2 years of age (3.39/100,000 in 2009) and children 2–5 years old (2.44/100,000). The most common serotypes were 14, 3, 1, 4, 19F, 23F, 6B, and 12F (61.7% of all isolates). In children aged less than 5 years, isolates of serotypes 14, 6B, and 19F were most prevalent (52.7% of the IPD cases). The PCV7, PCV10, and PCV13 covered 43.3%, 54.8%, and 68.8% of all IPD cases, and 68.7%, 76.3%, and 86.3% of cases involving children under 5 years of age. Penicillin resistance was found in 21.3% of the isolates responsible for meningitis and in 1.2% of isolates responsible for other invasive infections.The authors conclude that the introduction of antipneumococcal conjugated vaccines into the national immunisation programme would likely lead to a significant reduction of IPD-associated morbidity among Polish children in particular, as well as in the population as a whole, especially in cases involving pneumococci with a decreased susceptibility to antibiotics.