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. 2022 Aug;28(8):1669-1672.
doi: 10.3201/eid2808.220304.

Increased Incidence of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease among Children after COVID-19 Pandemic, England

Marta Bertran, Zahin Amin-Chowdhury, Carmen L Sheppard, Seyi Eletu, Dania V Zamarreño, Mary E Ramsay, David Litt, Norman K Fry, Shamez N Ladhani

Increased Incidence of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease among Children after COVID-19 Pandemic, England

Marta Bertran et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

During July-December 2021, after COVID-19 restrictions were removed in England, invasive pneumococcal disease incidence in children <15 years of age was higher (1.96/100,000 children) than during the same period in 2020 (0.7/100,000 children) and in prepandemic years 2017-2019 (1.43/100,000 children). Childhood vaccine coverage should be maintained to protect the population.

Keywords: COVID-19; England; SARS-CoV-2; United Kingdom; bacteria; coronavirus disease; epidemiologic surveillance; incidence; invasive pneumococcal disease; pneumococcal diseases; pneumococcal vaccines; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; vaccine-preventable diseases; viruses.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of IPD cases among persons before and after COVID-19 pandemic, England. A) Number of IPD cases among persons >15 years of age during July–June by epidemiologic year 2017–18 to 2021–22. B) Number of IPD cases among children <15 years of age during July–June by epidemiologic year 2017–18 to 2021–22. C) Number of IPD cases in children <15 years of age, by month and age group, January 2020–December 2021. IPD, invasive pneumococcal disease.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Serotype distribution of pneumococcal isolates from IPD among children <15 years of age, England. A) Percentage of IPD cases by serotype group and year during July–December 2017–2021. PCV7 includes serotypes in the 7-valent PCV; PCV13 includes serotypes in the 13-valent PCV, excluding PCV7 serotypes; PPV23 includes serotypes in the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, excluding PCV13 serotypes. B) Top 10 serotypes isolated during July–December 2017–2021. Note these values represent percentages of the top 10 isolated serotypes in each timeframe; the average number of cases of these serotypes compared with all IPD cases was 97/129 for 2017–2019, 49/61 for 2020, and 114/172 for 2021. IPD, invasive pneumococcal disease; PCV, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
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