Pneumococcal Infection in Children and Their Prevention

Overview

The authors paid their attention to present possibilities in the prevention of pneumococcal infections by mean of vaccination in children at risk. Invasive pneumococcal infections significantly participate in mortality in children at risk even at the present time. The risk factors for the origin of invasive infections include the age below two years, anatomical or functional asplenia, immunodeficiency, and conditions after transplantation of organs and hemopoietic cells as well as basal chronic diseases of the patients.

The prevention can make use of the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine (PSV23), which encompasses up to 90% serotypes of pneumococci responsible for invasive infections, but should be applied in children older than two years.

For the younger children there is a more suitable polysaccharide conjugated vaccine (PCV7), which decreases the occurrence of invasive infections, pneumonias, acute otitis and pneumococcus carriership. It is recommended by the Ministry of Health to be applied in children at risk for the age of two months up to two years. However, a whole scale prevention of pneumococcal infections in healthy children is presently not recommended.

Key words:
pneumococcal infections, children, risk factors, vaccination