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Knowing causative agents, emphasizing vaccination key to controlling invasive illness
Three of the top six causative agents of community-acquired invasive bacterial diseases in South and Central America are vaccine-preventable, highlighting the importance of widespread vaccination efforts, according to data published online recently.
Anna Lucia Andrade, MD, PhD, of the Institute of Tropical Pathology and Public Health, Federal University of Goias, Goiania, Brazil, and colleagues reported data from a study of more than 30,000 blood cultures taken from children between the ages of 28 days and 3 years in Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica. The data were collected from 2007 to 2009.
The researchers noted that most illnesses related to invasive disease were caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
Andrade and colleagues noted that their findings highlight the potential role that vaccination campaigns can have on invasive disease burden. They pointed to the “dramatic success of vaccination for H. influenzae type b.” Since regular immunization programs were initiated for H. influenzae in the three studied countries in the late 1990s, “the reported annual number of H. influenzae type a cases in children younger than 2 years to the Pan American Health Organization’s surveillance system has been 3 to 16 in Brazil, 1 to 6 in Colombia, and zero to 2 in Costa Rica.”
The researchers added that in their surveillance, they noted no replacement strains. They said that highlighting vaccination and knowing the causative agents of invasive disease are keys to controlling spread in communities.
Disclosure: Dr. Andrade has served as a consultant for Pfizer.
