How to prevent pneumococcal bacteria, which can cause everything from pneumonia to otitis media and meningitis

“Streptococcus pneumoniae”, bacteria pneumococci is one of the main reasons foracute and invasive respiratory infections It affects all ages, mainly affecting children and people over 65. Additionally, it results in significant hospitalizations.

In fact, research shows The rate of hospitalization due to this bacterium in children under 1 year old is 18.6 per 10,000 inhabitants.decreases with age until adolescence and increases again with age until it reaches 65.75 cases per 10,000 people over 85 years of age.

as explained Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP)Pneumococcal bacteria are bacteria that can cause less serious illness, such as Otitis media, sinusitisto moderate and severe, e.g. Pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis.

Additionally, pneumococcal bacteria “can affect any healthy child, but severe infections are more common in children younger than two years old because their infection defense systems are not mature enough to deal with this type of microorganisms,” they write in the AEP added. That is, he does not have the trained immunity to protect himself because this is the first time in his life that he has been exposed to these infections.

That’s why it’s recommended AEP recommends universal pneumococcal vaccination for all children under 5 years of ageAlthough current vaccines do not protect against all types of pneumococci, they do protect against the most common ones.

In this sense, “the development of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines represents a huge advance because they provide more robust long-term protection and target the nasopharynx in children, a major source of disease transmission, ” Dr. Fernando Baquero MochaleRamon Cajal Institute of Health (IRYCIS), Research Professor in the Field of Microbiology and Microbial Evolution, Department of Microbiology Services, Ramon Cajal Hospital, Researcher at the Center for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health Network (CIBERESP), in “Pneumococcal Prevention Past, Present and Future” Conference

organized by MSD.

In Spain, the use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines has contributed to reducing the incidence of vaccine serotypes causing invasive and non-invasive disease in vaccinated and unvaccinated children and adults. “Systemic pneumococcal vaccination of children could reduce disease burden and the most severe cases,” Dr. Baquero said.

Even though 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, the number of cases dropped significantly Invasive pneumococcal disease In the under-2 age group, a return to pre-pandemic levels was observed in 2022, coinciding with the end of non-pharmacological measures. In fact, between 2022 and 2023, serotype 3 increased significantly among children and also became the dominant serotype among adults over 65 years of age.

“Given the evolutionary nature of bacteria, it is essential to have robust epidemiological surveillance systems that assess the most prevalent serotypes at any time, allowing the strategy to be modified by combining vaccines that best meet the needs of each moment,” he noted. For his part, Dr. Fernando Baquero Artigao, coordinator of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University Hospital of La Paz in Madrid.

at thisMinistry of Health ReportYou can see all vaccine recommendations. In this sense, pneumococcal vaccination is recommended starting at the age of 65 years, and as we explained, the AEP recommends it for children under 5 years of age.