Esposito et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2016) 16:12 DOI 10.1186/s12879-016-1335-3
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation in children and adolescents with asthma: impact of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and evaluation of potential effect of thirteen-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Susanna Esposito1*, Leonardo Terranova1, Maria Francesca Patria1, Gian Luigi Marseglia2, Michele Miraglia del Giudice3, Alessandro Bodini4, Alberto Martelli5, Eugenio Baraldi6, Oscar Mazzina7, Claudia Tagliabue1, Amelia Licari2, Valentina Ierardi1, Mara Lelii1 and Nicola Principi1
Abstract Background: The main aim of this study was to evaluate Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in a group of school-aged children and adolescents with asthma because these results might indicate the theoretical risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) of such patients and the potential protective efficacy of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13). Methods: Oropharyngeal samples were obtained from 423 children with documented asthma (300 males, 70.9 %), and tested for the autolysin-A-encoding (lytA) and the wzg (cpsA) gene of S. pneumoniae by means of real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: S. pneumoniae was identified in the swabs of 192 subjects (45.4 %): 48.4 % of whom were aged
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation in children and adolescents with asthma: impact of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and evaluation of potential effect of thirteen-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Susanna Esposito1*, Leonardo Terranova1, Maria Francesca Patria1, Gian Luigi Marseglia2, Michele Miraglia del Giudice3, Alessandro Bodini4, Alberto Martelli5, Eugenio Baraldi6, Oscar Mazzina7, Claudia Tagliabue1, Amelia Licari2, Valentina Ierardi1, Mara Lelii1 and Nicola Principi1
Abstract Background: The main aim of this study was to evaluate Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in a group of school-aged children and adolescents with asthma because these results might indicate the theoretical risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) of such patients and the potential protective efficacy of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13). Methods: Oropharyngeal samples were obtained from 423 children with documented asthma (300 males, 70.9 %), and tested for the autolysin-A-encoding (lytA) and the wzg (cpsA) gene of S. pneumoniae by means of real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: S. pneumoniae was identified in the swabs of 192 subjects (45.4 %): 48.4 % of whom were aged
