​This is the main finding of a recent article based on data from The Streptococcus pneumoniae Invasive Disease network (SpIDnet).

The study design and analysis controlled for influence of potentially confounding trends, such as improvement of day-care carriage and decreasing prevalence of smoking during the study period.

​Antimicrobial stewardship policies are increasingly being implemented as a measure to prevent and control antimicrobial resistance.

The study compares the incidence and serotype distribution of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) for pneumococcal meningitis and non-meningitis IPD in children from 2007 to 2010 with reference to the pre-vaccination period from 1997 to 2001 in Germany.

This study found a marked reduction in vaccine serotype carriage after PCV7 implementation. The overall pneumococcal, H. influenzae and S. aureus carriage decreased slightly, but not significantly.

This study demonstrates that PCV13 is immunogenic and safe in children previously vaccinated with PCV7. By eliciting high antibacterial immune responses to the additional serotypes, PCV13 provides protection against these serotypes, which are important causes of pneumococcal disease globally.

The evidence presented in the article strongly supports the notion that serotype replacement has occurred in invasive pneumococcal disease in most populations and is caused by the vaccine.

The authors present an appraisal of the pneumococcal epidemiological situation in 11 Central European countries. Data are based on study findings presented at the 12th Central European Vaccine Advisory Group (CEVAG) meeting, held on 21–22 May 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a literature review of the PubMed database.

In recent years there have been a series of arguments and findings suggesting that Statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) which used widely to lower cholesterol levels may also be important in reducing the risk associated with severe infective conditions.

The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) targets seven of the more than 92 pneumococcal serotypes. Concerns have been raised that non-vaccine serotypes (NVTs) could increase in prevalence and reduce the benefits of vaccination. Indeed, among asymptomatic carriers, the prevalence of NVTs has increased substantially, and consequently, there has been little or no net change in the bacterial carriage prevalence.