Control of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 5 epidemic of severe pneumonia among young army recruits by mass antibiotic treatment and vaccination

Ran D. Balicer, Salman Zarka, Hagai Levine, Eyal Klement, Tamar Sela, Nurith Porat, Nachman Ash, Ron Dagan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

During an outbreak of severe pneumonia among new army recruits, an epidemiological investigation combined with repeated nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal cultures from sick and healthy contacts subjects was conducted. Fifteen pneumonia cases and 19 influenza-like illness cases occurred among 596 recruits over a 4-week period in December 2005. Pneumonia attack rates reached up to 5.5%. A single pneumococcus serotype 5 clone was isolated from blood or sputum cultures in 4 patients and 30/124 (24.1%) contacts. Immunization with 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine supplemented with a 2-dose azithromycin mass treatment rapidly terminated the outbreak. Carriage rates dropped to <1%, 24 and 45 days after intervention.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5591-5596
Number of pages6
JournalVaccine
Volume28
Issue number34
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2010

Keywords

  • Carriage
  • Outbreak
  • Pneumonia
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae
  • Vaccine
  • Young adults

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