Surveillance of pneumococcal diseases in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Pneumococcal infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The burden of disease associated with S. pneumoniae is largely preventable through routine vaccination. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (e.g. PCV7, PCV13) provide protection from invasive pneumococcal disease as well as non-invasive infection (pneumonia, acute otitis media), and decrease vaccine-type nasopharyngeal colonisation, thus reducing transmission to unvaccinated individuals. PCVs have also been shown to reduce the incidence of antibiotic-resistant pneumococcal disease. Surveillance for pneumococcal disease is important to understand local epidemiology, serotype distribution and antibiotic resistance rates. Surveillance systems also help to inform policy development, including vaccine recommendations, and monitor the impact of pneumococcal vaccination. National pneumococcal surveillance systems exist in a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe (such as Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia), and some have introduced PCVs (Czech Republic, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Russia, Slovakia and Turkey). Those countries without established programs (such as Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine) may be able to learn from the experiences of those with national surveillance systems. The serotype distributions and impact of PCV13 on pediatric pneumococcal diseases are relatively similar in different parts of the world, suggesting that approaches to vaccination used elsewhere are also likely to be effective in Central and Eastern Europe. This article briefly reviews the epidemiology of pneumococcal disease, presents the latest surveillance data from Central and Eastern Europe, and discusses any similarities and differences in these data as well the potential implications for vaccination policies in the region.

The attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge of healthcare professionals towards the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of bacterial meningitis in Turkey

“…The most common causative organisms of pediatric meningitis are N. meningitidis in our country. [3][4][5][6][7] However, the most common pathogen in adult bacterial meningitis cases is S. pneumoniae. 8 Therefore, differences in steroid use may be due to the difference between the etiologic agent of meningitis in children and adults.…”

“…No meningococcal B vaccine are currently available in Turkey. [3][4][5] In children, after widespread use of the Hib and 13-valent conjugated pneumococcal vaccines among children, incidences of bacterial meningitis decreased, while N. meningitidis is a leading cause of meningitis in children (mainly due to serogroups W and B), followed by S. pneumoniae. No Hib meningitis cases have been reported since 2012, after the introduction of the Hib conjugated vaccine in 2008.…”

Multifaceted Role of Pneumolysin in the Pathogenesis of Myocardial Injury in Community-Acquired Pneumonia

“…One recent review concluded that there was a decreasing prevalence of pneumococcal infections in CAP, but that this pathogen remained the most common bacterial cause, particularly in critically ill cases, while there appeared to be an increasing role for respiratory viruses [ 29 ]. Additional studies from various geographic regions have concluded that despite the indirect protective effects of the uptake of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination in national childhood immunization programs (herd protection), the burden of pneumococcal disease remains high in adults [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Furthermore, it has been clearly shown that estimating the frequency of pneumococcal pneumonia from the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) or bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia is a complete underestimation of the frequency of non-bacteremic pneumococcal CAP, which accounts for a much greater burden of disease and hospitalization [ 32 , 35 ].…”

Impact of vaccination on invasive pneumococcal disease in Italy 2007–2017: surveillance challenges and epidemiological changes

“…While some countries such as Ireland and UK [12] showed a stable trend, others, such as Hungary [13] and Italy [14], showed an increasing rate of reported cases over time. Finally, few countries, including Denmark and France [12], were characterised by a declining rate.…”