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The pediatric heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has significantly reduced the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease, but how has it affected the incidence of pneumococcal meningitis in particular? To find out, researchers examined case data from 1998 through 2005 collected by the CDC’s Active Bacterial Core (ABC) surveillance program. ABC personnel have conducted active laboratory- and population-based surveillance for cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in eight states across the U.S.
A total of 1379 cases of pneumococcal meningitis were identified. The case fatality rates were 8.4% and 22.3% for children and adults, respectively. Overall, incidence rates fell by 30.1% between 1998/1999 (before the introduction of PC…