Reccurrent invasive pneumococcal disease in children host factors and vaccination response.

Reccurrent invasive pneumococcal disease in children host factors and vaccination response. Dan Med J. 2015 Jul;62(7) Authors: Ingels HA Abstract Streptococcus pneumoniae is still a leading cause of septicaemia, pneumonia and meningitis in young children world-wide with over half a million children dying annually from pneumococcal disease.  Some children are prone to repeated episodes of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) because of an underlying predisposing disease. Recurrent IPD (rIPD) is a rarity and published reports on rIPD are limited by having few children included, selected groups of patients or short follow-up periods. Deficiencies in the innate or adaptive immune system have been described in children with rIPD, but the frequency of immunodeficiency among such patients is unknown. The aim of this PhD thesis was to examine paediatric cases of laboratory-confirmed rIPD, over a 33-year period in Denmark, to determine risk factors and study aspects of the immunological background for this problem in children. In October 2007, a seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was implemented in the Danish infant immunization programme. An additional aim of the thesis was to examine the impact of vaccination on a population level, following the first three years of general PCV7 vaccination in Denmark. The thesis consists of three papers, which are all directly or indirectly based on data retrieved from the National Streptoc...
Source: Danish Medical Journal - Category: Journals (General) Tags: Dan Med J Source Type: research