Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

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.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kadambari S, Goldacre R, Morris E, Goldacre MJ, Pollard AJ. Indirect effects of the covid-19 pandemic on childhood infection in England: population based observational study. BMJ. 2022;376:e067519. 10.1136/bmj-2021-067519 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amin-Chowdhury Z, Aiano F, Mensah A, Sheppard CL, Litt D, Fry NK, et al. Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on invasive pneumococcal disease and risk of pneumococcal coinfection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): prospective national cohort study, England. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;72:e65–75. 10.1093/cid/ciaa1728 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amin-Chowdhury Z, Bertran M, Sheppard CL, Eletu S, Litt D, Fry NK, et al. Does the rise in seasonal respiratory viruses foreshadow the return of invasive pneumococcal disease this winter? Lancet Respir Med. 2022;10:e1–2. 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00538-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Danino D, Ben-Shimol S, Van Der Beek BA, Givon-Lavi N, Avni YS, Greenberg D, et al. Decline in pneumococcal disease in young children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel associated with suppression of seasonal respiratory viruses, despite persistent pneumococcal carriage: a prospective cohort study. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;ciab1014; Epub ahead of print. 10.1093/cid/ciab1014 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cohen R, Ashman M, Taha M-K, Varon E, Angoulvant F, Levy C, et al. Pediatric Infectious Disease Group (GPIP) position paper on the immune debt of the COVID-19 pandemic in childhood, how can we fill the immunity gap? Infect Dis Now. 2021;51:418–23. 10.1016/j.idnow.2021.05.004 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances