Running header: EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Curtis Jones
ITT-Technical Institute
SC2730
March 1, 2015

EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Emerging Infectious Diseases

This is a brief examination from an article in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The article is titled Risk Factors for Death from Invasive Pneumococcal Disease. The article
was a case study of risk variations by Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype. The research was the
study of the possible association between patient age and sex, clinical presentation, Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype, antimicrobial resistance and death in invasive pneumococcal
disease. The study was conducted from research reported by 17 European countries during 2010.
The research was performed by Adoracion Navarro-Torne, Joana Gomes Dias, Frantiska
Hruba, Pier Luigi Lopalco, Lucia Pastore-Celentano, Andrew J. Amato Gauci, and Invasive
Pneumococcal Disease Study Group. Invasive Pneumococcal Disease data derived from passive
national surveillance case notification systems which was originally collected from 26 European
Union/European Economic countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United
Kingdom). However, the study sample was a subsample of cases for which information was
available about both serotypes and outcome, which represented data from on 17 of the European
countries.
The study sample comprised of 2,921 patients, of whom 56.8% were men and 38.2%
were less than or equal to 65 years of age. Meningitis occurred in 18.5% of cases. Death was
reported in 264 (9.0%) cases. Older age, meningitis, and nonsusceptibility to penicillin were
significantly associated with death. Non-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine serotypes among
children less than 5 years of age and 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine serotypes among

EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Emerging Infectious Disease

persons 5 to 64 years of age were associated with increased risk for death; among adults less than
or equal to 65 years of age, risk did not differ by serotype.
Streptococcus pneumoniae causes severe invasive disease that results in considerable
illness and death. The incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease is higher during the early
years of life and among elderly persons. Geographic and ethnic differences also exist as well as
environmental factors such as ambient temperature, humidity, and air pollution affecting
invasive pneumococcal disease. Invasive pneumococcal disease has also been related to recent
respiratory viral infection. The findings of the study highlighted difference in case-fatality rates
between serotypes and age. Therefore, continued epidemiologic surveillance across all ages is
crucial to monitor the long-term effects of Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.

EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

References
(2015) Risk Factors for Death from Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, Europe, 2010
Emerging Infectious Diseases from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/3/14-0634_article